Video shows moment car hits 9-year-old playing in yard; driver on the run

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County family is pleading for a hit-and-run driver to come forward as their little girl recovers in the hospital.

Video captured the horrific moment an out-of-control driver came across the front lawn and crashed into 9-year-old Laderihanna, sending her flying through her family's home.

It happened on Cherokee Valley Drive on Friday. Police say the driver blew through the stop sign at a nearby intersection, jumped the curb and slammed into the girl in the front yard.

One person then slipped out through the passenger side door as family members rushed to help the young girl. Security video showed him staggering a bit before he took off on foot, leaving behind the vehicle. The family said a second person also fled the scene.

"They thought she was dead," the girl's mother, Charlette Bolton, said.

According to witnesses, the driver and passenger searched for something inside the car, found it and then ran away. Police are still looking for both people.

"Please, you know what you did. You didn't try to help my baby. You almost killed my baby and I hope you do the right thing and turn yourself in," Bolton said.

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The young girl's family said she suffered several injuries, including multiple fractures to her skull and pelvis, but they're confident that she'll recover.

“Laderihanna was laying lifeless on the ground,” Bolton said.

Some people say it is a miracle the girl survived.

“I laid her head on my leg and I put my hand on her chest,” the girl's father, Derryl Holmes, said.

"If you didn't believe in miracles, you should now," the family's attorney, Chris Stewart, said. "The video is really hard to watch but she survived somehow. You gotta believe in God after seeing this."

The girl's mother told Channel 2's Audrey Washington that she had a message for the people responsible.

"Just please turn yourself in. Please cooperate with police so my baby can get justice," Charlette Bolton said.

According to a police report, the car’s owner is a woman who says she was at work and her boyfriend was driving the car.

Stewart wants the owner and her boyfriend investigated. He said the boyfriend is in his 30s and the video appears to show two teenagers in the car.

"Those were teenagers that were in that vehicle, so we have to learn what happened and how they got ahold of that car," he said. "We just need more facts right now about how it got into the possession of these teenagers."

DeKalb County police said they have strong leads in the case.

Cox Media Group