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Family Calls for Justice After Toddler Dies Days After Kensington Hit-&-Run

A 2-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries days after a hit-and-run driver struck the child's mother who was carrying the boy across a Kensington street. Hours after his death, his family delivered a message for the driver responsible for killing little David.

"Shame on you for just going right by here -- hitting two innocent lives, taking one -- and you're out there like nothing," said Diana Sanchez, cousin of the boy's mother Josephine Rivera. "How dare you ... don't think you can hide."

David Alicea Jr. died at 1:38 a.m. Thursday at St. Christopher's Hospital, where the boy spent the last days of his life, according to police.

The deadly hit-and-run crash happened on Mascher Street near Lehigh Avenue Monday night-- less than an hour after another hit-and-run claimed the life of a 4-year-old boy in southwest Philly.

Alicea's 19-year-old mother was only a few feet from her doorstep when a white 2006 to 2008 Infinti M Series sedan struck her, investigators said. The impact sent the mother under a parked pickup truck as the boy fell to the sidewalk. 

"There's no way to deal with someone who can be so inhumane, who can hit a human being -- let a lone a small child -- when his mother was trying to protect him," said Sanchez.

Rivera suffered head trauma in the crash. She was treated at Temple University Hospital before being transferred to St. Christopher's to be with her son. Rivera was released from the hospital Thursday and is staying with family.

The Office of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced Tuesday a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver in the Kensington incident. that reward increased to $20,000 after the boy's death.

Witnesses told police the vehicle, which had two men inside, fled the scene on Lehigh Avenue.

The boy's family hopes the driver and passenger turn themselves in to relieve the pain being felt by Rivera.

"She's in a lot of pain right now physically and, as you can imagine, emotionally ... there reality is just about to set in," said Sanchez.

Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact Philadelphia Police.

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