{"id":151322,"date":"2026-03-29T03:38:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T03:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/151322\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T03:38:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T03:38:34","slug":"community-remembers-nyleek-ellison-chester-boy-paralyzed-in-2025-hit-and-run-after-his-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/151322\/","title":{"rendered":"Community remembers Ny’Leek Ellison, Chester boy paralyzed in 2025 hit-and-run, after his death"},"content":{"rendered":"

His story captured the hearts of many people in Chester, and Saturday night, days after 9-year-old Ny’Leek Ellison died, dozens of community members stood united to remember him.<\/p>\n

They sang, prayed and mourned together.<\/p>\n

“I thought I had it, I thought I was going to see my baby walk again,” said Anita Carrington, Ny’Leek’s mother.<\/p>\n

Carrington said she is numb but finds some comfort knowing her little boy is now reunited with his dog, Adonus, who died a week earlier.<\/p>\n

Carrington said Ny’Leek died of cardiac arrest Thursday, a little more than a year after surviving a hit-and-run<\/a> that left him paralyzed from the neck down.<\/p>\n

“Everything I worked so hard for when he was a baby, to make his life good, Caleb Campbell reversed it because he couldn’t wait one second, he couldn’t wait one second,” Carrington said.<\/p>\n

Police say Caleb Campbell crashed into the boy as he was getting off a SEPTA bus at 9th and Tilghman streets in February 2025. Campbell left the scene but was later arrested.<\/p>\n

Last month, Campbell was sentenced to 1.5 to three years in prison for aggravated assault. Carrington said at the time that she was disappointed and angry with the sentence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, Chester City Councilman Fred Green said he is pushing for police to bring new charges after Ny’Leek’s death.<\/p>\n

“I believe that justice wasn’t served in the first trial, but it’s my hope that justice will be served in the second trial,” Green said.<\/p>\n

CBS News Philadelphia asked the Delaware County District Attorney’s office if the charges against the driver will be upgraded; an official said that is under investigation.<\/p>\n

After Ny’Leek spent five months in the hospital, community members helped welcome him home<\/a> last summer.<\/p>\n

A city filled with joy and hope at the time is now grieving, but community members are holding one another tight. Family, friends and neighbors gathered Saturday evening for a vigil near the place where Ny’Leek was hit. They released balloons into the air and celebrated the memory of the child, who many now call the city’s superhero.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

CBS News Philadelphia<\/p>\n

“He brought unity to the city of Chester. He helped a lot of grieving mothers, and just to be able to be in his presence, it was a blessing,” said Tanisha Palmer.<\/p>\n

“I’m lucky, I’m lucky to be his father,” Micah Ellison said. “That was the best nine years of my life, I don’t think it will get no better than that.”<\/p>\n

Ny’Leek’s funeral is set to take place on April 11 at St. Luke’s Church in Chester.<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His story captured the hearts of many people in Chester, and Saturday night, days after 9-year-old Ny’Leek Ellison…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[212,12056,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-151322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-delaware-county","tag-hit-and-run","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}