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Police who happened upon the scene right after the accident say he was traveling at high speed. The family told Daniel Ortiz how the accident has devastated them:..

Daniel Ortiz reporting
The family of the 6 year-old baby, Ashanti Pollard, continues to grieve her sudden, rather violent death. Her little body was hit and flung by a vehicle which struck her right outside the gate of her home. Her mother, who suffered injuries in the traffic accident, is in the throes of grief, a pain more than anything physical she endured in that accident.

Joan Wade - Grandmother of Deceased
"Her mother cried until her eyes looked like it wanted to burst and her sister can't stop cry. I'm the one who is trying to strengthen them to hold up, because I tell them God knows best. It's a shock to me too and the whole thing is that the family doesn't have any money, this came suddenly and we don't have the money to bury her. That's the situation right now. So, it's very stressful. Everybody is taking it very hard because it's something that happened suddenly. No one expected it, especially her mother and her sister."

One eyewitness tells us that it was a shock to see Baby Ashanti's broken little body on the shoulder of the road.

Voice of: Mark - Eyewitness
"She was there lifeless on the ground. It's just kinda touching because a little earlier I was worrying about with my daughter too and to witness that, it brought tears to my eyes because, she is very young. She had her life before her. It's just sad."

Joan Wade - Grandmother of Deceased
"I was there at the hospital last night, well the whole family was there last night and she told me she came from Hattieville, she stop off at the junction of Faber's Road and she had held the little girls hand because it was only 2 of them together. She said the vehicle came from behind her and it knocked her on her hip, she has bad pain in her hip and behind her foot, she just went to the doctor this morning and she said when she conscious, she said where is Ashanti, and when she looked, she saw Ashanti on the street and she is already dead."

Today, we saw the family of the man who was behind the wheels, trying to reach out to Baby Ashanti's family, trying to at least convey sympathy for the loss of life. But, according to eyewitnesses, when the accident was fresh last night, the driver tried to flee.

Voice of: Mark - Eyewitness
"When he bang the little girl, he got out the vehicle, he looked under his vehicle to see what it was and even back track to where he saw something on the ground then he sped off, he ran."

Joan Wade - Grandmother of Deceased
"My sister went to the station last night with my daughter because she can't be by herself and she said she talked to the person and she said when they took him to court this morning, she was going to meet him and arrange that he could help with the funeral expense. But they didn't take him to court. They said until tomorrow. So I don't know."

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Has he shared anything with the family as to his view or at least his side of what happened at least to say maybe I'm sorry?"

Joan Wade - Grandmother of Deceased
"Yes, he said he is sorry and he knows how they feel, my sister told him, he doesn't know how they feel because you are not feeling it. We are the ones feeling it."

The driver is in police custody awaiting criminal charges, manslaughter by negligence among them, but, that matters not to this family right now. Their pain is worsened because they can't afford a proper funeral for baby Ashanti.

Joan Wade - Grandmother of Deceased
"I just would want if anybody who is hearing or seeing if they would help, I would want to leave a number with them that they could contact us, if they could help us in anyway, because it's a very stressful situation right now."

Police say that Albert Martinez of Western Pines was detained pending charges of "Manslaughter by negligence, Causing death by careless conduct and Driving without due care and attention". The police report notes that they intercepted him while he was quote, "travelling at high speed." Also, a urine sample was also taken to determine if he was driving under the influence.

As you heard in our story, the family is in a race against time to try to come up with the money to pay for funeral arrangements. They are pleading with persons in the public for help, and anyone who would like to assist can reach them at telephone numbers 634-7226, or 626-1807. They say that the professional making the burial preparations is requesting that they they come up with several thousand dollars by tomorrow.