Fort Worth police need help to find hit-and-run driver accused in death of child
Police have appealed for help to find a hit-and-driver accused of killing a 7-year-old boy who was playing tag on Wichita Street.
It has been over a month, and police noted they have been unable to locate the driver or vehicle which struck and killed Nelson Morales as he played with his cousins.
Nelson was killed on the night of March 3 in the 3600 block of Wichita St.
Police are searching for a silver or gray Toyota SUV.
Nelson, an Oaklawn Elementary student, was playing tag with his cousins, his family has said.
Nelson had run to the end of his block and stepped out onto Wichita Street.
“I don’t think they (the driver) saw the kids. It was dark,” said neighbor Jasmen Craddock, who was driving by when the accident happened. She talked to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram a day after Nelson was killed. “I don’t know what happened. I just heard it and it was bad.”
Craddock pulled over.
“It was just little kids, and they looked like they were in shock,” Craddock said. “They didn’t know what to do. I asked what happened, and they said a kid got run over.”
Craddock’s friend hopped out of the vehicle, crying. She ran down to Nelson’s family to alert them about what had happened.
Nelson was dragged several feet by the hit-and-run driver.
“The car wasn’t really going fast,” Craddock said. “But they could have stopped.”
Patrol officers responded to the automobile-pedestrian accident shortly before 10:30 p.m. on March 3, Fort Worth police said.
The unknown driver fled the scene of the accident on Wichita Street as residents were having a family event on nearby Comanche Street, police said.
Nelson and his cousins were playing just half a block away from home.
“He runs so fast,” 23-year-old Cristian Rivas, Nelson’s older brother, told the Star-Telegram a day after his death.
Nelson was in the crosswalk when he was hit, police said.
Nelson died at 10:54 p.m. on March 3 at Cook Children’s Medical Center, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office website.
Anyone with information should call police at 817-392-4869.
This report contains information from Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 12:15 PM.
