DPD looks for hit and driver that killed baby, injured 3 other children in crash

DETROIT (WJBK) - A 6-month old baby killed in a horrific crash on Detroit's west side.

Two of his siblings are badly hurt and his mother, grandmother and older brother were also in the vehicle. A day later police are still searching for the driver who plowed into the family's minivan, then took off.

Latoya Powels is living her worst nightmare. She was driving home with her family Thursday at 8:30 p.m. when someone in a silver Pontiac Grand Prix T-boned the vehicle at the corner of Archdale and Puritan on Detroit's West Side, and kept going.

"Please, nobody," said Latoya Powels, the baby's mother. "This silver car just comes out of nowhere, and it was just like, bam.

"I flipped over like three or four times. When I was out of the vehicle, I had my seat belt on. My kids were all in car seats. When I woke up, I was on the ground. I just got up, like my babies, my babies."

Six-month-old Demetrius Brown, Jr. was killed. The children's grandmother and their 12-year old brother were also in the vehicle.

They are doing okay physically. However, 2-year-old Demauriah Brown, and 4-year-old Demetriah Brown were seriously hurt.  The two of them and little Demetrius were all ejected from the minivan.

"They were cut up everywhere," Powels said. "My two other children, they are in critical condition, one of them went under plastic surgery."

Residents who live at the intersection quickly came to the family's aid.

"I saw them laying in the street and my first thought to just go help," said Susan Thomas, a resident who helped the family after the crash. "Get the children out of the street and see if there was anything I could do."

Making it even more difficult to grasp, is that Demetrius Brown Jr. was born premature.

"He was at six months old, they got him up to 20 pounds as a preemie," said Demetrius Brown, Sr., his father. "After he fought to live, and to have his life taken away from him like that. He had his whole life ahead of him."

FOX 2 spotted investigators walking out of a house near the intersection. There are security cameras at several homes in the area.

A picture of the vehicle was taken hours before the crash, going up and down the street. The car has been recovered.

Right now, police are hoping to get a DNA match to help locate and capture the person responsible.

"For my son, I'm calling on Chief (James) Craig go and get them," Powels said. "Find them and get them."

If you would like to donate to the family, there is a GoFundMe account set up. CLICK HERE.