"He took her from me": Family pleads for driver to come forward after fatal Tacony hit-and-run
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia police are trying to find the driver who hit and killed a 21-year-old woman in the city's Tacony neighborhood. The hit-and-run crash happened early Saturday morning in the pouring rain.
"She was a good kid and he took me from her," the victim's mother said. "He took her from me, and I need her."
Octavia Aaron, 21, was a junior at West Chester University. She was a business major with big plans after graduation.
But now her large family is broken, and holding each other tight after Octavia was struck and killed Saturday morning.
"Very, very smart, intelligent girl," Octavia's mother said. "She's funny, she's loved, she's loved, and she's leaving behind her sister who's 10 years old."
Octavia's mom said her daughter was walking home to a friend's house after hanging out earlier in the night. She was on Robbins Street near Marsden Street in Northeast Philly around 2 a.m.
Police say she was trying to cross in the middle of the block when a car crashed into her and took off.
"We're just going to ask the lord to have mercy upon him," Darryl Parker, Octavia's uncle, said. "That the lord will touch his heart and have him do the right thing."
Neighbors tell CBS3 they heard Octavia's friends screaming and soon saw police arrive in the pouring rain.
Octavia was rushed to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital but died a short time later.
Now, her close-knit family is coming together in prayer and pleading for the driver to turn themselves in.
"I just want the person to come forward," Octavia's mother said. "That's it, do the right thing. Please. Please at least give me that much so we can have closure."
Right now, police don't have much to go on.
They're looking for a white car, but don't have information yet on a make or model.
So now, they're asking any possible witnesses to come forward to help catch this hit-and-run driver.