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Find driver who did this to my daughter
Jenny Engstrom, Evening Standard01.11.07
The mother of a five-year-old girl left fighting for her life after a hit and run today released this shocking picture as she appealed for help in catching the driver.
Rachel Popoola was going to a park with her brother Andre, 17, when she was struck by a van on a pedestrian crossing yards from her Harlesden home.
Despite an attempt by Andre to pull her out of the way, the girl, who has learning difficulties, was thrown high into the air by the impact of the vehicle in North Acton Road.
Andre, Rachel's eight-year-old sister Sarah, and two friends watched in horror as the van drove off while she lay unconscious. Her mother Donna, 45, said: "I was upstairs when I heard a scream and looked out the window.
"It happened just outside our front door. The driver must have seen Rachel, but he didn't slow down.
"I ran out. Andre was in pieces. He picked up Rachel and a neighbour drove us to hospital. Her face was so badly hurt we thought she wasn't going to make it."
Rachel, who attends a special needs school and is diabetic, was taken to Central Middlesex Hospital with multiple facial fractures and a broken leg.
She was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital and underwent a 10-hour operation to rebuild her face. She is out of intensive care but still in a serious condition, and her mother is at her bedside. Ms Popoola said: "Rachel's a strong little girl. She has been a fighter all her life - since she was two days old she was operated on. I just thank God she is still alive.
"I beg anyone with information to come forward. I don't know why the driver didn't stop. What if it was his child? It is just so heartless. I beg him to come forward - otherwise he'll be a prisoner within himself."
Witnesses to the accident, which took place at about 6pm on Saturday, described the van as dark with white lines, with two white men inside. Anyone with information should ring police on 020 8998 5319.
Ms Popoola called on Brent council to introduce traffic calming measures in North Acton Road. There have been three other serious accidents there in the past three years. In November 2004 a mother of two was killed on the pedestrian crossing Rachel was knocked down on.
Reader views (1)
Hit-and-run drivers should be given a well-publicised ultimatum to surrender themselves. If they don't, and are later caught, they should be sentenced as if they inflicted injury or death deliberately.
And it should be made illegal to repair body damage to a motor vehicle without checking the vehicle logbook and insurance, and logging the details on a central computer. That would make catching hit-and-run drivers a lot easier (and coincidentally, make life for un-insured drivers a bit harder).
- Nigel, London
