Police report 5-year-old girl killed by hit-and-run driver fleeing from law enforcement officers

Published 3:53 pm Thursday, April 2, 2020

A 5-year-old girl was killed and her father was critically injured after their car was struck by a hit-and-run driver in a truck fleeing from police, authorities in Alabama said.

Birmingham police Sgt. Rod Mauldin said East Precinct officers attempted to stop a speeding white truck traveling northbound on Interstate 59/20 on Wednesday but the driver refused and fled from officers, news outlets reported.

Mauldin said the officers lost site of the truck when it exited the highway. Later, the officers drove up on a wrecked car and determined it had been struck by the fleeing truck.

Kamerynn Young, 5, and her father, Elijah, were hospitalized in critical condition. Later, Kamerynn died at the hospital. As of Wednesday night her father was put into an induced coma but was in stable condition, family members said. Kamerynn’s mother, Breana, and 3-year-old sister Isabella were also in the car but were not injured.

The truck was found abandoned at an apartment complex Wednesday afternoon.

Police later found the suspect around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. The 28-year-old man was taken into custody. His name was not immediately released. An unidentified woman was also taken into custody. Additional details surrounding the arrest also weren’t immediately released.

Kamerynn Young was a kindergartner at Birmingham’s Sun Valley Elementary School, who loved to dance, sing, draw and go to church, family members told AL.Com.