Family Members Remember Teen Struck, Killed In Hunting Park Hit-Run
By Anita Oh
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Neighbors say though the speed limit on Old York Road is only 25 miles per hour, cars often drive double that.
Last night, that may have cost a teenager his life in a hit and run and police still haven't found the person responsible.
The road this family travels so often, the one on which their auto body shop sits is now marred by tragedy.
"Everyone's just still at shock that someone can do something like that, just leave someone in the middle of the road. We're grieving," said Janitza Malabe.
Surveillance video shows the driver of a stolen Toyota Prius never stopped after striking 18-year-old Kevin Maldonado near Luzerne street on Wednesday night.
"The car was coming maybe 50-60 miles an hour," she said. "It struck him and he went flying about 30 feet where he hit a parked caravan."
Investigators found the white Prius abandoned less than half a mile away on the 1300 block of West Pike street, though witnesses told police the driver had already fled.
"They describe a female as the person who normally drives that vehicle," said Chief Inspector Scott Small.
Outside the shop where the Edison High School student worked part-time, a makeshift memorial grows in his honor. He was dating the owner's daughter and quickly became part of the family, says Janitza Malabe.
"He was just a kind person who wanted to learn, wanted to live and it was just taken away from him too fast," said Malabe.
The family has tied purple ribbons tied to their cars to remind everyone passing by of a bright spirit gone too soon.
"He was a really good kid that had a lot going for him and it's unfortunate but someone took his life."
Edison High School Principal Awilda Ortiz tells Eyewitness News that Maldonado was an amicable, well-liked student who was in foster care.
She adds Maldonado was a gentleman and that he and his girlfriend had a "fairytale love story" as high school sweethearts.
Grief counselors are available, and the school is planning a balloon release in Maldonado's honor on Friday.
