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7-Year-Old Girl Killed On Highway Trying To Get Help For Dad After Crash, He's Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI
DeSandra Thomas, 7, died trying to cross a highway in Michigan to get help for her father, who police say was intoxicated.
A 7-year-old girl was tragically killed on a Michigan highway while trying to find help for her father who had just crashed the car they were in.
DeSandra Thomas' father lost control of his car and crashed into an abandoned vehicle in Romulus, near I-94 and Merriman Road on early Sunday morning, according to WDIV-TV in Detroit. The girl died while crossing the highway later, police said.
The girl's mother, Sandria Burts, told WJBK in Detroit that her daughter just wanted to get help for her dad, whose name has not been released.
“They say my daughter tried to save her father," Burt said. "She ran to get some help for her daddy.”
The girl left the car and grabbed her stuff and tried to cross the freeway.
"There is evidence where you could see that she walked away, climbed over the fence and walked her way across I-94," Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw said.
While she walked, DeSandra Thomas texted 911 and told police her father was hurt and could be dead. She needed help, she said. Police couldn't locate the girl even after they pinged the cell phone.
Around the same time, police said, the got a call from a woman who thought she might have hit a pedestrian on the highway. There was no damage to the car, but they started looking for a victim.
"They went out there with their flashlights, did everything they could, searched around the area but couldn't find anything," Shaw told WDIV-TV.
Also, when investigating the father's crash about a mile and a half away, it became clear to police that he may have been drinking.
"He was very intoxicated from what they could tell from the scene. They had to help him out of the vehicle," Shaw said. "He wasn't giving any information. Nothing indicating that anyone else was in the vehicle at the time."
They eventually found the DeSandra's body in a median nearby.
DeSandra's mother is understandably devastated.
“It’s straight emptiness," Sandria said. "We are in shock but I know God is good and he is the only one that’s going to be able to bring me and my family through this."
[Photo: GoFundMe]
