Kennewick woman dies after being hit by a stolen car on a busy street
A 28-year-old Kennewick woman has died nearly two weeks after she was hit by a car that didn’t stop to help her.
Nyellie Perez died Feb. 25 at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. She had been in a coma since Feb. 6 when a car hit her while she was crossing Clearwater Avenue.
She died with family by her side, Kennewick police Sgt. Matt Newton said in a news release.
Police are still trying to find the driver and three passengers who abandoned the 2002 Ford Focus and ran away. The car had been reported stolen earlier that day.
“I feel so angry, devastated and all these emotions,” her sister, Xenia Perez, wrote on the GoFundMe campaign as part of the final update, days before her death. “I don’t even know what to say. ... These will be the last moments we will have with her. We will take any time we have.”
The GoFundMe campaign is still collecting donations at bit.ly/NyellieFundraiser to pay for the funeral.
Nyellie Perez was in the street on the 5000 block near the AutoZone store just east of Edison Street when she was struck.
Police tried to use a K9 dog to track the driver and passengers who pulled over and ran off, but weren’t able to find them.
The car was stolen in Kennewick before 7 a.m. the same morning she was hit.
DNA was collected from the vehicle and investigators are waiting for results.
Police are asking for the public’s help to find the people in the car. Anyone with information can contact Kennewick police using the non-emergency dispatch number at 509-628-0333 and reference case 22-05124.
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 6:03 PM.