Family Of Levittown Hit-And-Run Victim Begs Teen's Killer To Turn Himself In

LEVITTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- On the day their daughter was eulogized, and buried the grief-stricken family of the Long Island teen killed in a hit-and-run had a message for the girl's killer.

Turn yourself in.

As CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported, one day shy of her 19th birthday, family and friends spent the day honoring the life of Teranjit Parmar.

The funeral home in Lake Ronkonkoma was filled with long lines of the young scholar's admirers.

Her father -- a devout Sikh -- also invited a CBS2 news team in to pay tribute to his gifted daughter.

"If you're going to have a daughter, this is the one, and we've been blessed," Ranjit Parmar said.

Parmar was a top student and soccer player who graduated from Division High School in Levittown before attending Adelphi University in Garden City.

There's still no sign of the hit-and-run driver who ran the girl down in a parking lot off the Hempstead Turnpike near busy Gardiners Avenue.

She had stepped out of her car to exchange papers after a fender bender with a red Jeep.

Her mother heard her last words.

"She said, 'stop, oh no stop," Parmar said.

"We are asking for the public's help. We do know it was a red pickup truck, a four door that was being operated by a middle-aged white male," Detective Vincent Garcia, Nassau County Police said.

Cops said he ran her down and fled the scene.

"He was wearing a baseball cap is what we got from a witness," Garcia said.

"Taranjit had many friends on campus. She was an A student in our honors college, she was just in our joint degree program with NYU," Jeffrey Kessler, Dead of Student Affairs, Adelphi University said.

She was to become a dentist, and classmates have a message for the suspect.

"You should definitely turn yourself in, what you did was completely wrong, immoral," one classmate said.

"I really hope they can find justice, because I think it's such a horrible thing," another added.

Her family wants closure.

"Perhaps there will be an opportunity where he and I can sit and kind of close this better," Ranjit said.

Police said helpful witnesses are coming forward, but they are still searching for the distinctive red pickup with damage to the driver's side front end. It could be parked on a street or even in a garage.

Police are urging anyone who was on the Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown on Thursday at 5 p.m., and might have noticed anything to call them.