ONLY ON WPBF: Fort Pierce mother demands justice after hit-and-run injures 8-year-old daughter
An 8-year-old girl in Fort Pierce was seriously injured in a hit-and-run crash, and her mother is calling for accountability after police arrested the suspect, who allegedly fled the scene.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. —
An 8-year-old girl in Fort Pierce fractured her femur in a hit-and-run crash, and her mother is demanding justice after police arrested the suspect 11 days later.
Police said the crash happened at the intersection of 25th Street and Avenue M when the girl and her brother were crossing the street. A Mercedes-Benz making a left turn struck the girl, and surveillance footage captured the incident.
Lawrunda Robinson, the girl’s mother, described the moment she learned about the crash.
“My son came home and said my baby got hit. I go, ‘Boy, stop playing,’ and the lady told me, ‘No, she’s hit,'” Robinson said.
The surveillance video appears to show 34-year-old Demetris Johnson exiting a gold Mercedes-Benz to check on the girl before getting back into the car and driving away.
“How are you gonna hit a child and get out, make sure she’s not dead, and then keep going?” Robinson said.
Maj. Michael Santiago of the Fort Pierce Police Department said Johnson was arrested on Wednesday and refused to speak with investigators. Officers confirmed that Johnson was driving with a suspended license.
Robinson expressed her frustration over the situation.
“So he was driving with a suspended license, and he hit my baby too. I ask my baby, ‘What you want to happen to him?’ She said she wants him to get jail time,” Robinson said.
Johnson now faces charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injuries.
The girl suffered a fractured femur and is currently using a wheelchair to get around. Her leg is in a cast, and her mother said the recovery process will be lengthy.
“The doctor told me it would take a month before he take the cast off her leg. Then she got to go to physical therapy and learn how to walk again,” Robinson said.
Police are asking anyone with additional information about the crash to contact them.
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