Victim of hit-and-run dies/ Police ask for public's help to find

A 12-year-old Colorado Springs girl died Saturday morning of injuries suffered Friday when she and a friend were struck by a car weaving through traffic on a street crowded with children headed home from school.

The driver never slowed down and fled after hitting the girls, said police, who need help to find the driver.

"I hope this helps catch the guy," Guadalupe Aldama, the victim's father, said Saturday.

Genoveva "Tascha" Aldama and Sina Walker, 12, were crossing Pikes Peak Avenue near Coleridge Avenue when a car that witnesses said was "traveling fast" toward the west weaved between a car that was slowing down and one that was stopped. The car then struck the two Emerson-Edison Junior Academy seventh-graders.

Sina, who turns 13 on Dec. 14, was listed in good and stable condition Saturday night at Memorial Hospital.

Police are asking for help in finding the car or driver, who witnesses described as a black male in his mid-20s to early 30s. The car, believed to be a silver or gold 1999 or 2000 Dodge Intrepid or Pontiac, should have significant damage.

"The damage is not going to go away on that car unless it is repaired by a body shop," Colorado Springs police detective Dan Smoker said.

Police believe the driver is familiar with the area where the incident occurred and are patrolling apartment complexes near the school.

The driver was last seen driving south on Ruskin Drive right after the incident.

"We're hoping that either the person will have a conscience and come forward, or that one of their friends will come forward," Smoker said.

No crosswalk is in the area where the two girls were crossing, police said. Crossing guards were at the Byron Drive crosswalk - about a block farther west on Pikes Peak Avenue - when the incident occurred.

Aldama said his daughter was a positive girl.

"She was always thinking about doing the right thing. She got along with just about everybody," he said.

"She used to like finishing up her homework and then going outside to play with her friends."

Aldama, who is in the Army, moved his family from Chicago to Colorado Springs about five years ago.

"We moved and stayed here because we thought it was a very safe place to grow the kids up," he said.

The daunting task of helping a school deal with the incident falls to Larry Borland, security director for Colorado Springs District 11.

And he has a message for all drivers.

"I'd like to tell people to slow down when they're going around schools. I mean, really, people need to slow down around children," he said Saturday. "This is just a tragedy. This is just awful."

He said between 60 and 100 students were in the area when the girls got hit about 15 minutes after school ended.

Today, Borland will meet with Emerson-Edison staff to discuss what will be done to help students and staff cope.

Beginning Monday, the school will offer counseling for its approximately 700 students. Plans include setting up a crisis response center for students.

"We expect there's going to be sadness and kids are going to be upset," Borland said. "We'll try to move through the day and do school. If there are kids who need extra help or need to get back to their parents, there will be a counseling center for that."

The school will send information home to parents about how children deal with trauma and warning signs to look for in a traumatized child.

Teachers are expected to discuss the incident with students Monday in classrooms.

But before all of this happens, Borland must make sure that all Emerson-Edison staff is aware one student was injured and another died.

"We'll be having a staff meeting early on Monday morning so the staff can have a chance to process this situation and come to grips," Borland said. "It's difficult for everybody. It's a tragedy. This is something people have to get their heads wrapped around a little bit."

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call police at 444-7000 or detective Dan Smoker at 444-7770.

- Edited by Sue McMillin; Headline by Tim Chong

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