Melitza Jimenez has been by her daughter's bed side for the last two days at the hospital. Evelyn Sanchez, 7, was the victim of a hit-and-run crash on Tuesday. Her mother was the first one by her side to help.
Speaking through a translator, Jimenez said she felt horrible not being able to do anything to help her daughter, who is in so much pain right now.
Jimenez said she was in the process of moving her family into their new apartment and was unloading her car when Evelyn darted into the street. She said the SUV struck her daughter and dragged her at least 30 feet down the road.
The apartment's surveillance cameras caught the crash on video. The footage shows a black Toyota 4Runner speeding down Birth Street at about 5 p.m. Tuesday before it rammed Evelyn and left her injured in the street.
Jimenez said the whole thing happened so fast. She saw the SUV coming, and then saw the car drag her daughter, who she thought was going to die in her arms. Some of Evelyn's young siblings witnessed the accident, too.
As of Thursday morning, Evelyn was in a medically induced coma after having surgery to reduce swelling in her brain. Jimenez says she wants justice - she wants the driver responsible to surrender to police.
Jimenez is a single mother of five young children and is struggling to get by. According to her family and friends, she sells tamales on the streets on the weekends to make ends meet and was days away from being homeless until the landlord at the Birch Street apartment complex helped her out.
If you have any information regarding this case, you're asked to call Santa Ana police at (714) 245-8665.
