‘I got hit by a car’; Akron 4-year-old traumatized after hit and run

AKRON, Ohio (WOIO) -“I got hit by a car… Mama!” said 4-year-old Gabrielle Thompson.

She could barely finish the thought when the traumatic memory flashed back. She hid behind her mother, Kimberly’s leg, while her mom, Kimberly, told 19 News about the day her daughter was.

Kimberly Thompson said she wants justice for her daughter and to find the person who hit her and then drove away.

Thompson said she and her four children, Gabrielle and her three boys, were walking home rather than wait for the bus. Thompson said they were crossing the Bartges and Main Street intersection, less than a mile from their house.

“We made it through the first light fine got to the second one it was red so we could cross,” said Thompson. That’s when the car came and turned Gabrielle’s life upside down. “She was just two inches ahead of me. This lady came flying, and she turned and hit her. [Gabrielle] flew, she hit her head,” said Thompson.

She said initially the woman stopped, but not for long. “The lady got out, helped me pick her up off the road, and got in the car and took off.”

She said the driver didn’t say anything to her before taking off. Her daughter was hit on October 19th, and now a month later, she said she still has no idea who did it.

“All I know is she was driving a dark-colored SUV. She was a white, older woman. It happened so fast,” said Thompson.

She said Gabrielle suffered a concussion and a hematoma on her head. She said the lump just recently went away a month later. A month later, the little girl is physically okay, but Thompson said her daughter’s lasting emotional trauma is much worse than any of her injuries. “She suffers more now than the actual day it happened. She won’t cross the street, I’m trying to cross, she screams, grabs onto my legs,” said Thompson. She said her daughter is “so scared it’s going to happen again. She’s scared to walk anywhere, go anywhere. We don’t have a car, and she’s having nightmares from it. My older kids are suffering from it. I just want to find out who did this.”

Thompson said Gabrielle’s three brothers, who were with her at the time, ages 2,8, and 6, are also traumatized after seeing what happened to their sister. She said she’s looking into counseling for her daughter. She’s hoping the driver will turn themselves in. “Please just turn yourself in. This is a four-year-old little girl who’s suffering because of what you did. I don’t want anything from it, I just want justice for my daughter.”

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