Her daughter, who is almost 2-years-old, is being treated for serious injuries.
SPRINGFIELD – Police have identified the victim of a fatal hit-and-run accident as a 19-year-old woman who was crossing the street near her home.
Ashley Ballester, of 24 Lester St., was killed at about 8:30 p.m. when she was struck while crossing Sumner Avenue near the intersection of Lester Street, said Police Officer Robert Kalin, a traffic bureau officer who is leading the investigation.
Ballester’s daughter, who will turn 2 in August, was seriously injured in the accident. She is being treated at the pediatric intensive care unit at Baystate Medical Center, Kalin said.
Ballester’s family has been notified of her death and are planning to take over care of the child when she is released from the hospital, police said.
“We are working on leads. We do have the car in custody and we are working with the owner of the car,” Kalin said.
Ballester was pushing her daughter in a stroller when she was crossing Sumner Avenue Friday evening. She was struck by a white Ford car and the impact threw her in the air. She was also struck by a second driver, who did stop at the accident.
Her child was sent flying out of the stroller when the car hit and landed on the tree belt, Police Lt. Robert P. Moynihan said.
The stroller was dragged underneath the car as it fled the scene. It was found several blocks away.
The accident happened at dusk. There are no crosswalks in the area where Ballester was hit, Moynihan said.
It took police some time to identify the woman because she was not carrying any identification, Moynihan said.
A short time after the accident, a woman on Kensington Avenue called the station to report her cousin had come in her house, handed her the car keys and told her he may have just hit someone, police said. The cousin then left the house.
The woman told police the cousin took the car without her permission as she was sleeping.
Police are now trying to follow that information to figure out if the driver of the car was the woman’s cousin or someone else, Kalin said.