More than three months after a hit-and-run driver ran down a young boy along a Philadelphia street, police charged a woman with homicide by vehicle charges.
A black Ford Edge struck and killed Latif (Abdul) Wilson April 13 along 57th Street near Florence Avenue in the city's Kingsessing section. In the days that followed police recovered the suspect striking vehicle in a parking lot under Love Park in Center City and there were rumors that the car's owner -- who led police to the car -- would surrender to police, but no arrest occurred for more than three months.
Shanika Mason of Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania faces homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter and accident causing death charges.
Criminal defense attorney Michael Diamondstein, who represents Mason, said the 27-year-old surrendered Wednesday morning to face the counts.
Wilson was playing with his siblings outside their home on the 1600 block of South 57th Street, police said. Surveillance video showed the 4-year-old walking between two cars when a Ford Edge struck him and knocked him 15-feet into the road. The vehicle then drove over the helpless boy a second time, said police.
"She was just crying for the baby," witness Raysa Cespezes said of the boy's mother who rushed to her son "It was horrible. Something I would never want anybody to go through."
The SUV police believe was used in the deadly hit-&-run was recovered the next day in an underground parking garage at LOVE Park after its owner contacted Diamondstein who then called police.
