MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. -- A suspect is in custody after a 6-year-old girl died after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver at midday Sunday.
The crash occurred just before noon in the 3300 block of Sixth Street. Police say, a light-colored Chevrolet Suburban hit the girl, who was transported to an area hospital where she later was pronounced dead.
Family members have identified the little girl as Taylor Davis.
“She was very, very sweet. She was the best cheerleaders on the team," says Demere Davis, Taylor Smith’s brother.
Others are at a loss as to why someone would run her down and then drive away without stopping.
“To just leave a kid out there. You don’t know if she’s dead or not, no help or nothing. And then just leave here there in the street you was just going to drive off and speed away. You thought you were going to get away that’s really cruel, "said Taylor's older sister, Lamontraya Spears.
Family members remember her as a wonderful and caring child who loved to smile.
“Everybody loved Taylor’s smile, she loved smiling [and] loved playing," Spears said. She was a very wonderful person; a good baby."
Police Chief Joseph Thomas said the driver took off from the scene, and that a man followed the suspect after the incident and tracked him to his home in the Mona Lake Mobile Home Park on Hoyt Street in Norton Shores where he was taken into custody.
The incident remains under investigation by the Muskegon Heights Police Department.
