Family of great-grandmother killed in unsolved hit-and-run pleads for driver to come forward
Sharon Mitchell, 69, was using marked crosswalk when she was struck one year ago
The daughter of a senior killed in an unsolved hit-and-run at a marked crosswalk in Surrey, B.C., pleaded Tuesday for the driver and any witnesses to speak with police, one year to the day after the deadly collision.
"We still have hope that someone will come forward with some answers," Daveen Herman said in a statement read aloud at a news conference.
"I know you couldn't do the right thing then, but you can still do the right thing now," Herman continued, addressing the driver of the vehicle that killed her mother. "Please, help give our family some peace."
Sharon Mitchell, 69, was using an electric wheelchair when she was struck by a vehicle in the crosswalk at 68 Avenue and 132 Street at 8:50 p.m. on Oct. 1, 2018. The great-grandmother was rushed to hospital with critical injuries and later died, after her family withdrew life support.
It was the second parent Herman would lose in a car crash; her father died when she was a child.
Vehicle description released
RCMP said the driver of the vehicle that hit Mitchell drove away without stopping. Investigators held the news conference Tuesday, the anniversary of the collision, asking witnesses to call them and, for the first time, releasing a description of a possible suspect vehicle.
The car involved is believed to be a blue or green hatchback manufactured between 1995 and 1997. Officers said it could either be a Pontiac Firefly, Suzuki Swift or Geo Metro.
"It's never too late to come forward and explain your side of events," Surrey RCMP Const. Richard Wright said Tuesday, speaking to the driver.
Daveen Herman wrote an open letter to the driver whose car struck her mother one week after the collision:
Wright said RCMP believe there are witnesses who have information that could assist investigators.
"It can be difficult to come forward, particularly after so much time has passed, but while nothing can take away the grief this family has suffered over the past year, witnesses can bring some comfort," Wright said.
Herman, a grandmother of three, lost her father in a car crash on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast when she was 10 years old. She said he was a passenger in a vehicle that veered off the road and hit a tree.
"I just thought, 'Wow. Twice?'" she said of losing a second parent to a collision.
"I just want the driver to come forward ... this has probably been a hard year for whoever did that. I just hope that now they will come forward and make things right."
With files from Matthew Humphrey