10-year-old DC girl seriously injured after being struck by hit-and-run driver

WASHINGTON - The mother of a 10-year-old D.C. girl is making a plea for the driver who struck her daughter in a hit-and-run incident to come forward.

Si'Onna Branison was heading home from after school care when she got off a Metrobus at around 6 p.m. Tuesday on 8th Street and Kansas Avenue in Northwest D.C. While she was in a crosswalk, she was hit by a car.

"She just was crying, 'Mommy my face hurts, my leg hurts,' and I couldn't do nothing for her," said Branison's mother, VaChelle Monroe. "I couldn't touch her because I had to wait for the ambulance."

Branison broke five bones in her face and two bones in her leg. She also suffered a fractured neck as well as swelling and bleeding in her brain.

"I ran up here and she was lying literally where I'm standing [on the street in the crosswalk]," said Benjamin Tillery, the young girl's stepfather. "There were about seven to ten people outside. The bus was sitting right there and she was lying here in pain. I couldn't move her."

Witnesses to the crash may be the key to finding whoever is responsible. According to the police report, one witness told investigators that there were two women in a gray vehicle that hit the girl. The witness also provided a license plate number.

According to the witness, the passenger got out of the car, checked the damage to the vehicle, got back into the vehicle and then took off.

Monroe said her daughter was able to call her on the phone and she rushed her side.

"When I got out, the first thing I see is my baby in the street just lying here screaming and crying because she's hurt," she said. "They just left her there."

The 10-year-old's mother hopes sharing her story about her daughter, a fourth grade straight-A student who is now recovering at Children's National Medical Center, will get whoever was behind the wheel to turn themselves in.

"What kind of person leaves a child here in the street, doesn't call the police?" said Monroe. "They waited for everyone else to call the police. They just left the scene."

The police report also indicates there is surveillance video from the area. It is unclear if it is from cameras in the neighborhood or from the dash camera on the bus.

D.C. police said at this point of the investigation, they are not ready to release or confirm any evidence in this case to the public.