Dallas police are searching for a driver who they say seriously injured a 16-year-old girl who was walking home from work Friday night. NBC 5’s Maria Guerrero reports.
Dallas police are searching for a driver who they say seriously injured a 16-year-old girl who was walking home from work Friday night.
The driver, police and witnesses said, did not stop to help the injured victim but instead drove off.
Jaylssa Zaragoza was walking home from work in Pleasant Grove just after 9 p.m.
The 16-year-old was crossing Lake June Road near Masters Drive when a driver slammed into her, according to witnesses and police.
Jaylssa's mother, Angelica Zaragoza, received a call from a passerby who stopped to help.
“When I got there she was laid out in the street,” she said. “Her shoes, he hit her so hard she came out of her shoes. Her earrings came off. Her hair is in a bun at work, her hair came loose. How can you hit someone like that and just leave them there? Like they’re trash!”
Zaragoza admitted her teen did not use a crosswalk when crossing the street, but a witness said what the driver did next was worse.
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“He reversed out, he moved over to the right lane and he sped off,” said eyewitness Jazzie Vela. “He ran the red light on Lake June.”
Vela said she could only tell the driver was a man in a newer-model Chevrolet Impala or Malibu.
She and her boyfriend narrowly missed hitting the girl’s body on the street in front of them.
The two stopped and tended to her.
“We saw her arms just dangling there,” she said. “Her crying, her weeping for her mom. He deserves to go to jail.”
The banged-up teen was rushed to the hospital.
Her mother said Jaylssa had surgery on her broken arm.
The family can only wait and hope her days of playing the flute in the Skyline High School band are not over.
“She’s really upset that she probably won’t be able to play again,” Angelica Zaragoza said. “I’m going to keep her in prayers that this doesn’t stop her.”
Dallas police said the victim "failed to yield the right of way to the driver" when crossing but because the driver did not call for help or provide "reasonable aid" to the victim, they face a failure to stop and render aid charge.
“I just really want this person off the streets so he doesn’t hurt any other children,” Zaragoza said.
Jaylssa will be in the hospital for a few more days undergoing physical therapy with the goal of regaining use of her arm.
Anyone with information on this hit and run is urged to contact Dallas police. Case number: 148149-2020.
