KANSAS CITY, Kan. — KCK police say 2-year-old Meleny McDonald died when a driver hit her and her mother Monday on Quindaro Boulevard.
“She was so sweet and beautiful,” said Latoria Stevens, Meleny’s mother. “She was so beautiful.”
Through eyes covered in bruises and road rash, Stevens fought back tears Wednesday as she remembered her baby girl Meleny.
Stevens said they were getting into the car in the moments before the wreck. KCK police said Meleny ran into the street.
“I told her to get in her seat,” Stevens said, “and she was coming the other way toward the street. But she didn’t run in no street. She was by my car.”
Stevens said she saw a car coming toward them and acted as quickly as she could.
“We was getting in the car, and I seen that car come real fast,” Stevens said. “He was coming down the hill real fast, and I knew I had to get my baby ’cause he was too close to the cars, period. I picked her up and turned this way, and he just hit us.”
The collision threw Meleny into the street, and the impact threw Stevens under it. Stevens is still in pain from the injuries she got in the crash.
“I’m gonna have trouble sleeping without my baby,” Stevens said. “I gotta live without my little girl. That is so hard for a mother, and she was only two years old. You understand me. Two-years-old. She still had life to live. And I jumped in front of that car for her.”
Stevens doesn’t think the driver was paying attention. She said she won’t rest until she gets justice for her daughter.
“I forgive that man, but I do want justice,” Stevens said, “because he took my baby girl from me, my beautiful baby girl. And he just can’t walk away from that. And that’s not OK.”
KC police say it’s unlikely any charges will be filed against the driver.