PHOENIX — A Valley family is desperate for the driver in a hit and run crash to come forward, nearly one month after their loved one died.
Phoenix police say Tanya Karim was crossing Broadway Road near 20th Street on December 7 at 8:11 p.m. when she was struck and killed by a vehicle.
"She was the kind of person that would give you the last money that she had. If you asked her for a dollar, she would give you whatever money she had," Karim's father, Jimmy Smith, said.
Smith says he just moved to Arizona to live with his daughter. "Two days after we were here I had been calling her and I couldn't get in touch with her," he said.
He says before they had the chance to reunite, he got a call that Karim was hit and killed while crossing the street. "I was just shattered," Smith said.
From store surveillance video you can barely make out the vehicle that hit her. Police say it could be a dark-colored older model pickup or a light-colored car.
They say both were seen in the area at the time of the crash. Frantz Beasley wasn't far behind the crash. He says he pulled over, called 911 and stayed with Karim until help arrived.
"For me, I just didn't want to leave her and if I ever met her family I wanted them to know she didn't pass by herself," Beasley said. "I stayed with her the entire time."
Beasley and Smith have since kept in touch. They, along with the rest of Karim's family, are asking for the driver to come forward.
"You can't just run over somebody and just leave them like that," Smith said. "That's not right. That's wrong. I hope it's eating them up, I really do. Maybe he or she thinks they got away, nobody saw them, but God saw them."
Police say the vehicle would likely have front end damage, including headlight damage.
Anyone with information is asked to call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish speakers.
