Apr 4, 2009 9:52 pm US/Central
Police Seek Hit-and-Run Driver That Killed Teen
Family of 13-year-old wants closure
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Police are hoping you can help them put away the driver who hit a 13-year-old boy and took off.
Martin Urbina was crossing the street when he was struck. The force was so severe… the seventh grader was tossed over two car lengths away.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports on the investigation.
Martin Urbina's family tells us they're desperate for information on the case.
Although some of this family saw the car they say hit him, they say it all happened too fast.
All they can tell us is that it was a gold-colored, four door car – a car that never stopped.
"That ain't cool. They just killed a little kid with a future -- 13-years-old," said Urbina's cousin, Guadalupe Quinones.
Quinones said he was watching when a car hit his cousin, Martin Urbina Jr. Police say it happened around 8 p.m. April 3.
Urbina was riding with his aunt to spend the night at her house near 59th and South California Avenue.
"He jumped out of the van and was crossing the street and the car was speeding. And it was too late, it just hit him. And then he just kept on going," Quinones said.
Urbina, 13, of the 3900 block of west 70th Place, was pronounced dead at 9:06 p.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said. A Saturday autopsy determined Urbina died of multiple injuries from a vehicle striking a pedestrian and his death was ruled an accident, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said.
Shattered glass speckles the street where Urbina's family says he hit the windshield of the car – the impact tossing the teen's body down the road.
Urbina's father, speaking in Spanish, can barely find the words to explain his grief.
"Describame su dolor. Pues, es un dolor muy grande," Martin Urbina Sr. said.
He says losing his son has caused him great pain he wouldn't wish anyone else to know. A father along with a host of loved ones remembering the boy they call a proud and intelligent student, a happy child. A seventh-grader they say just won a "student of the month" award Friday at Hurley Elementary School near his home.
His family's only wish now? For the driver who hit him to surrender to police.
"..this family needs closure to see why it happened to their son. And I mean, it's a big tragedy that happened," said Urbina's aunt, Maricela Fernandez.
Police have issued a community alert for information in the case. They say the gold car was headed north from 59th and California and does have windshield damage.
Any witnesses or those in the neighborhood that may have information on the crash are asked to call the Major Accident Investigation Unit at (312) 745-4521.
Memorial services for Urbina are set for Tuesday.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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