Child injured, woman arrested after Baldwin County hit-and-run: Elberta Police
UPDATE (4:45 p.m.): ELBERTA, Ala. (WKRG) — Orange spray paint on Krehling Road is the telltale sign that something bad happened here. Elberta Police say it is where an Elberta Elementary third-grader was waiting on her bus Monday morning when she was hit by a dark-colored SUV that left the scene.
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She suffered broken bones and a concussion, according to Elberta Police Chief Brandon Booker, and is expected to recover.
Mary Ellen Krauss lives just down the road and was returning from taking her kids to school when she drove up and heard the news.
“A child had been hit by somebody rushing down the road, and then they just kept going, which baffles me,” she said.
It happened just before seven o’clock Monday morning.
“Everybody started telling me the little girl had gotten hit and was just kind of laying there on the side of the road.”
Monisha Rolin’s son saw it happen.
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“They saw the car go by, and they saw the little girl go to the side, and then the next thing you know, the car kept going straight. The other kids heard the ‘boom’ is what they described it,” says Rolin.
The 8-year-old was taken by helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital.
“I saw her covered in blankets and tubes, so I couldn’t get a good picture of her, but I could tell she was small, and it just broke my heart,” says Krauss.
Counselors at Elberta Elementary helped students who had witnessed the unthinkable.
It’s something that Rolin says didn’t have to happen.
“It’s 25 on this road. There are kids out here all the time so, there’s no excuse for it.”
Elberta Police were able to track down Rolek’s SUV and arrested her at work in Foley and impounded her car, which investigators say was damaged by the impact.
She is now charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident.
UPDATE (12:02 p.m.): News 5 has received more information about this reported hit-and-run. The child, an 8-year-old, is a student at Elberta Elementary. The suspect, Katherine Rolek, is 33.
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ELBERTA, Ala. (WKRG) — A child is fighting for their life, and a hit-and-run suspect has been arrested after a traffic incident early Monday morning.
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Officers with the Elberta Police Department were called to Krehling Road around 7:15 a.m. for a report of a child hit by a car, according to a news release.
The vehicle, described as a black SUV, allegedly left the crash scene.
The child was airlifted to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Elberta officials said the Foley Police Department located a “suspect vehicle” at a business in Foley. EPD reportedly was able to identify the vehicle and suspect.
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That suspect, later identified as Katherine Rolek, was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident.
This is a developing story. News 5 will update this article as more information becomes available.
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