Hit and run victim's family pleads for justice

GLOUCESTER TWP., N.J. - February 12, 2009 Kathryn Blackshear is praying that her granddaughter, 6-year-old Ateehma Jones, will recover. The little Gloucester Township girl is in critical condition at Cooper Hospital after she was struck by a hit and run driver on Sunday afternoon around 1:15 p.m.

She was riding her bike with her cousin and two playmates on Wiltshire Road when she rode into busy Jarvis Road and collided with a car.

The driver stopped looked and left.

"The driver should know there will be justice and it might take days, it might take weeks, but there will be justice, and if you're the driver, you should step forward," family attorney Anthony Marchetti said.

Gloucester Township Police spent part of this afternoon going door to door in two developments here in the Erial section handing out flyers.

They are looking for white or cream Chrysler Sebring, a Dodge Stratus, or Mitsubishi Eclipse with a rear tinted window.

It would have driver side damage and a missing driver side mirror.

The driver is believed to a white male in his twenties with blonde hair.

Ateehma Jones had just gotten home from church when she was hit. She suffered head injuries and has been brought out of a medically induced coma, but is still unconscious.

"With all the family support that she has, the prayer and the support, we will make it through this and little Ateehma will be back to herself," the victim's cousin, Tywanna Hamilton said.

Ateehma's mother was not at the news conference as she is keeping a vigil at her daughter's bedside.

If anyone can help solve this case call Gloucester Township Police at 856-228-4500.

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