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KENNEWICK -- Eli Elmgren watched in horror as a truck smashed into the young girl crossing the street almost directly in front of his car Wednesday afternoon.
The fifth-grade student at Canyon View Elementary was at the corner of Olympia Street and 27th Avenue in Kennewick when the pickup hit her and then didn't stop.
"The student was crossing Olympia Street in the crosswalk just as she had been taught," said Kennewick police Sgt. Ken Lattin.
Makayla Messinger, who was hit was such force that she was knocked out of her tennis shoes, was listed Wednesday night in fair condition at Kennewick General Hospital.
She suffered a head injury and scrapes, said Lattin.
Elmgren, 21, who was on Olympia Street waiting at the red light to turn left to head west on 27th Avenue, said Makayla was about a quarter of the way through the intersection about to cross in front of his car when he heard tires screeching.
That's when he saw the white truck that was heading west on 27th Avenue turn south onto Olympia Street and run right into Makayla.
She flew about 10 feet and bounced off the pavement, he told the Herald.
"I don't ever want to see anything like that again in my life," said Elmgren, who still appeared shocked and on the verge of tears hours after the crash. "He didn't even slow down."
Elmgren said he thinks the driver was trying to beat traffic heading east on 27th Avenue and didn't even realize the girl was in the crosswalk.
Elmgren said he quickly pulled into the Benton County fire station parking lot at the corner and his friend, Ashley Gordon, 18, was about to jump out to check on Makayla when he realized the truck's driver wasn't stopping.
"I'm sure he knew he hit her," Elmgren said. "There's no doubt in my mind."
Elmgren saw another driver stop to check on Makayla, so he took off after the truck, described as a late-model, white, 1-ton dual-axle pickup with a white canopy. The truck, possibly a Ford or Dodge, turned off Olympia somewhere between 27th and 45th avenues, Elmgren said.
He couldn't get a license plate number or a better look at the driver because "all I saw was this little girl."
Lattin said the driver has been described by witnesses as a middle-aged man with a goatee. Anyone who sees someone trying to hide a white truck matching the description is asked to call police immediately, he said.
"By fleeing the scene, the driver took this simple injury accident and turned it into a serious felony crime of vehicular assault," Lattin said.
The hit-and-run occurred at 2:15 p.m., just south of the elementary school. School was out at 1:55 p.m. Wednesday, and traffic officers had just finished their school zone patrols down the street nearer the school, Lattin said.
Officers around the Tri-Cities have been conducting extra school zone patrols with the start of the new school year this week.
Drivers are reminded to slow to 20 mph in school zones and pay extra attention for kids walking or on bicycles heading to and from school, even if they're not in the school zone.
-- Paula Horton: 509-582-1556; phorton@tricityherald.com
