'Someone ran over the baby': NYC girl, 3, fighting for life after hit-and-run
WILLIAMSBRIDGE, The Bronx (PIX 11) — A three-year-old girl has been hospitalized after being struck by a moped in a hit-and-run accident Friday afternoon, according to police.
The young victim, Mylah Rojas, has been recovering at New York Health + Hospitals/Jacobi since the incident happened on Holland Avenue in Williamsbridge.
Now, the family is pleading for the public’s help in finding the man responsible.
“It was crazy,” said Robert Rojas, the victim’s uncle. “You know, one day, we’re having Thanksgiving dinner. Next day, we get this surprising news and we just been doing a lot of chain of prayers throughout everywhere.”
Robert says his niece, Mylah, was walking on the sidewalk with her mother near Holland Avenue in Williamsbridge when it happened. That’s when his sister gave him a daunting phone call.
“She called me saying, you know, that someone had ran over the baby with a scooter, and in the ambulance, I can hear the ambulance person saying keep your eyes open and things like that,” Robert said. “So, basically, my world was upside down when I heard that.”
The family said the young victim suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on her brain. Now police are searching for the moped's driver in connection to the incident.
“She took a step from the building door, and he just ran over her, and after that, they rushed her to the hospital. They say that the guy, he basically came, took a look, saw that she was heavily bleeding, and he just took off,” said Robert.
The driver was last seen wearing an orange jacket, black sweatpants, and black sandals. He was driving a blue moped with black stripes on the side, according to investigators.
The family is now holding onto hope and praying for Mylah’s recovery.
“It’s just something you don’t expect. You see things like this happen on the news, but you never think it’s going to happen to your family,” Robert said.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).