An 8-year-old died after a driver T-boned a car in Philadelphia’s Crescentville neighborhood Wednesday then sped off.
The hit-and-run driver made a left from the 5000 block of Whitaker Avenue onto Jericho Road before striking the other car round 1:35 p.m., Philadelphia police said.
Witnesses watched as responding paramedics tried to free an 8-year-old passenger in the car that was struck. Neighbors tried to comfort the child as he lost consciousness.
"I ran into the car and I saw it was a little boy there and I was walking, telling him, I didn't touch him or anything. I was telling him, 'Calm down. You're going to be okay,'" said Jeannette Agosto, one of the witnesses.
The child was rushed to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children where the child died a short time later. A driver who was in the car with the child was taken to Temple University hospital and is in stable condition.
The striking driver led officers on a pursuit that ended about one mile away in the parking lot of the Home Depot along Roosevelt Boulevard, police said.
The driver was taken to Temple University Hospital with chest pains. Police said the man claimed he was diabetic. It's not clear if the driver had a medical emergency when the crash happened.
