5-year-old killed in hit-and-run was playing tag with her brother, mother says

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    ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOV) — A family is grieving the loss of their 5-year-old daughter who was killed in a hit-and-run outside her home Monday night.

Demyhia Bates was playing tag with her older brother when a driver hit her, briefly got out of the car and then back in and drove off.

“Seeing your daughter, your baby, laying there on the ground … I don’t want to go through this, she broke my heart and left me,” mother Vernesha Bates said.

Bates said the pain is indescribable. Her daughter was just being her young self outside the house and playing while Bates was inside getting ready to make dinner when her life changed forever.

“I seen my baby laying right there on the concrete with blood on the side of her head,” Bates said.

Officers with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Deportment said the accident happened around 7:30 p.m. Monday near the intersection of Shulte and Park in the Walnut Park West neighborhood.

The 35-yer-old driver was taken into custody Tuesday morning.

“Why didn’t you get out to see if my baby was ok?” Bates said. “I heard she was a mother too and had her baby in the car. Why didn’t she pull over and see if she was ok? … It’s heartbreaking.”

Residents of the neighborhood told News 4 speeding has been an issue in the area for years. Bates’ boyfriend, Carlos Hill, said drivers ignore caution signs and speed through stoplights.

“This corner right here on Park Lane and Shulte they run it quite often, it’s ridiculous,” Hill said. “They need to put a block up or something if you ask me.”

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