HENRICO, Va. (WWBT) – A little girl is dead after she was hit by a car along Staples Mill Road on Thursday night.
Police say the crash happened around 10:45 p.m. near Townhouse Road.
“Once on scene, officers located a two-year-old girl with obvious signs of trauma,” Henrico Police said.
She was taken to the hospital, where she later died.
“The preliminary crash investigation indicates the toddler had walked away from her home nearby and into the eastbound lanes of Staples Mill Road, where she was hit by a Honda,” Henrico Police said.
Police say the driver stayed on scene and is cooperating with investigators.
Henrico’s Special Victim’s Unit is working to figure out how the toddler left the home.
“It is one of the most heart-wrenching parts of our job,” Henrico County Assistant Chief Lauren Edwards said.
Investigators say the child was being cared for by a babysitter Thursday night.
Now, there are two investigations into how this happened.
“There’s crash reconstruction, and our crash team is in charge of that particular part of the investigation, and then our special victims unit, which is part of our criminal investigation section they handle the part when it comes to the care that the child was under and why the child was unsupervised,” Edwards said.
Crash team investigators said there was a lot of thunder, lightning, and wind at the time of the collision.
“That’s horrifying,” Graceful Perkinson said. “I mean I hate living here because we’re such [a] busy road.”
Perkinson lives off of Townhouse Road, and is shocked to hear the news and says she’s sending her love to all those involved.
“I’m so sorry that happened,” Perkinson said. “I don’t even know. That’s got to feel horrible for everybody, the driver like goodness gracious and in that rain, for a baby just run out, you couldn’t see a damn thing. Oh my God, that’s just a horrible situation all around.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.,
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