Jun 14, 2009 2:24 am US/Eastern
Toddler Critical After Hit-And-Run In Queens
QUEENS (CBS) ―
A Queens toddler somehow wandered out of her house Friday night and into traffic, where a hit-and-run driver left her lying in the street at Rockaway Boulevard and 85th Street.
"She says there was a hole in her heart when she found out," Emily Duran said, translating for her grandmother.
Inez Peralta can barely hold back tears as she describes what happened Friday night to her granddaughter Jaylein.
She was inside, folding clothes, when she suddenly noticed that Jaylein was missing.
Her other granddaughter, Emily, translated for the Spanish-speaking Peralta.
"She didn't know [Jaylein] was outside," Duran says. "The door was locked, but she still opened it."
Jaylein snuck out of her home and walked about 100 yards onto Rockaway Boulevard, where she was struck by a passing vehicle.
One neighbor was shocked at what happened to the young girl.
"Horror. As a mom, it's horror," Josephine Ciaramella said. "I just feel bad for them."
Neighbors rushed out of their homes when they heard a woman yelling and crying while holding the little girl in her arms. Jaylein's mother had just gotten out of work at the supermarket around the corner, just yards away from where her child was hit by a driver who never bothered to stop.
"Hopefully they get whoever did it, but then again, who knows if the person even knows," neighbor Susan Mennes said. "He could have thought we was hitting a pothole – the baby is a tiny little baby."
Police are asking for the public's help in finding the driver who hit Jaylein, as they have been unable to locate any witnesses.
Jaylein is listed in critical but stable condition.
Anyone with information is urged to call police.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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