MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee neighborhood is reeling as a four-year-old girl fights for her life.
She's the latest child struck by a driver who ran off.
Milwaukee police are looking for that driver who was in a tan SUV when he left the scene. The hit-and-run happened Friday night near 3rd and Nash.
"You don’t even know how to react anymore,” said Dr. Vanessa White, the interim director at 5 Points Neighborhood Association. “Your heart is pierced. Your stomach - you're ill. Because a child should be able to be safe. They should be able to play in their neighborhood.”
Friday’s incident was the second hit-and-run crime scene and the fourth crash involving a child in just one week.
Sergeant Efrain Cornejo with the Milwaukee Police Department says it’s unfortunate that the driver isn't taking responsibility for their actions.
“It’s important to just be always aware,” said Cornejo. “Because a split second could be the difference between really causing harm or being able to stop on time and preventing something from happening.”
Neighborhood advocates like White say it’s going to take change and commitment from more than one area of the community to make sure that children in residential areas stay safe outside.
“Would you want your niece, nephew, sister, brother, child laying in the hospital like this baby is now?” asked White. “No, you would not.”
She says the work needs to start on a personal level by encouraging friends and family to be cautious on the roads— especially where kids play.
MPD encourages anyone who witnesses reckless driving to report it through their website, mpdtsu.org.
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