Trick-or-treater, 6, critically injured by hit-and-run driver

By Ana Ley

Published Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 | 8:10 p.m.

Updated Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 | 11:23 p.m.

A motorist ran over a 6-year-old girl before leading a good Samaritan on a winding car chase that startled packs of trick-or-treaters and sent them fleeing into their homes and cars on Halloween night.

Metro Police Lt. John Liberty said the girl was crossing the street at a stop sign on Peace Way and Hutchinson Drive about 7:35 p.m. when she was hit. She was rushed to University Medical Center’s pediatric unit with life threatening injuries.

“It doesn’t look real good,” Liberty said late Thursday when asked about the girl’s condition.

A man in a pickup who witnessed the wreck reportedly followed the hit-and-run driver’s four-door silver Jetta around the residential area but eventually lost track of it. Police had no other identifying information about the wanted motorist as of late Thursday.

An off-duty Metro Police officer and an off-duty paramedic came to the girl’s aid and cared for her until an ambulance arrived, Liberty said.

“She was wearing pink, and there was candy all over the ground,” said the paramedic, declining to provide his name. “She was breathing. Thankfully, she has a healthy little body.”

Natalia Sciotto, the paramedic’s fiancee, said she ran outside when she noticed the shrieks of playing children had suddenly turned to panicked screams.

“I heard a thump,” Sciotto said. “The sound of the screams changed significantly.”

Crowds scattered, and everyone who had been out in the neighborhood ran inside homes and cars seeking cover from the speeding vehicles, neighbor Lamar Patton said.

After police arrived, parents lingered outside and talked about the chaotic sequence of events.

Sincerea Gamboa said she normally takes her children trick-or-treating through the intersection where the crash occurred, but the family arbitrarily decided to go the opposite direction on Thursday.

“By the grace of God,” a neighbor chimed in while both women nodded in agreement.

“It could have been any of our children,” Gamboa said. “The whole neighborhood is shook up. We’re praying for the family.”

About an hour before the child was struck, an elderly pedestrian was killed when she was hit by a Ford Explorer at South Fort Apache Road near West Tompkins Avenue. She had not been using a crosswalk.

Later that night, a teenager was killed in a wreck in North Las Vegas. Officer Chrissie Coon with the North Las Vegas Police Department said the teenage girl was riding inside a car that was T-boned by a pickup about 9:43 p.m. near the intersection of Ann Road and Coleman Street.