Austintown police seek driver who hit teen, fled

By Elise Franco

A 14-year-old girl will be home-schooled while she recovers from injuries after being hit by a car.

AUSTINTOWN — Friends and family are looking for answers and for the person who hit a 14-year-old township girl, then drove away.

Charley Howard of Austintown said she wants the person responsible for the hit-and-run to come forward.

“I don’t like what happened to my child, and I would like justice to be served,” she said. “You shouldn’t be able to lie down at night knowing you hit a person.”

Howard said her daughter, Essence Williams, is doing better than just after the Monday night accident.

“She couldn’t walk, and she couldn’t open up her mouth and talk,” she said. “Her left eye was swollen shut.”

Essence, an eighth-grader at Austintown Middle School, was crossing Orkney Avenue at about 8:15 p.m. Monday when she was struck by a vehicle traveling south, a police accident report states.

A witness, traveling north on Orkney, told police Essence was hit by the right side of an older model silver car as she was crossing the street from east to west. She was thrown 30 feet into the driveway at 4105 Pembrook Road. The witness told police he didn’t think the car had headlights on — and if they were on, they were very dim.

The witness said the driver fled, only to drive back down the street five minutes later. He described the car as having a burned rubber or oil smell.

Howard said she believes the driver may not have been sure what he or she hit. She said by the time the car passed by, Essence had already gotten up and gone back into the house she was visiting.

“I’d like to give the driver the benefit of the doubt,” Howard said. “I think the driver just knew he hit something.”

She said her daughter was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, and for seven hours doctors and nurses treated her injuries and ran tests to check for internal bleeding.

Howard said Essence’s CAT scan came back clear, but she suffered significant bruising to her head, face, chest, backside and arms. She is on crutches because she told doctors she was having trouble lifting her leg and walking.

“She’s been complaining about headaches, and her arm is scraped from the elbow to the wrist,” Howard said. “She had to get stitches in her top lip because the skin was ripped away.”

She said it has been difficult for Essence to eat since the accident.

“Today was the first time she really opened her mouth,” she said. “It was still hard to even put a straw in there and for her to swallow.”

Howard said her daughter’s recovery will take about a month, and she will most likely be home schooled for most of that time.

Despite everything, she said the family is trying to stay in good spirits.

“Just, when you look at her, of how she looked and how she looks now... It’s hurtful to everybody,” Howard said.

Police have followed up on several leads since the Monday evening accident, including a license plate found in the street close to the scene.

Officers located the vehicle belonging to the plate, but it didn’t match the witness’s description of the car at the scene, according to the accident report.

Several people at the residence were questioned by police, but no one has been charged.

Patrolwoman Valerie Saluga, who is involved in the investigation, said the police department is working to solve the case.

“We will continue to look for the car and to investigate any leads we may get,” she said.

Saluga said anyone with information should contact the Austintown Police Department at (330) 799-9721.

efranco@vindy.com