Lafayette, Ind.—
Lafayette police have made an arrest in a deadly hit and run crash that killed a 15 year old girl on Sunday night.Police arrested Robert Kirts, 42, late Monday afternoon for fleeing the scene of a deadly accident. That accident took place just after 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, when an SUV struck and killed 15 year old Ebony Knight while she walked along State Road 25 near the intersection with Beck Lane.
The busy stretch of road is a couple blocks from Ebony Knight's home. She was walking on the shoulder of the road with a cousin because there is no sidewalk. On Monday night, a teddy bear and small memorial sat at the site where Knight died just a day before.
"By the time they had arrived (at the hospital) her heart had stopped beating," said Aprill O'Brien, who drove family members to the hospital.
Ebony's cousin and classmate who was with her when she was hit. Like others at the scene, her cousin couldn't get a good description of the vehicle before it took off.
"(The cousin) said that they were just talking and the last thing that she knew was she just saw shoes fly up," O'Brien said,
Despite absolutely no tips from the public and just a vague description of a vehicle, Lafayette police officer Matt Wilkerson noticed a suspicious looking Black 2002 Jeep Liberty while making a patrol through Royal Oaks mobile home park Monday afternoon.
"There wasn't a phone call or a tip leading him to there," said Sgt. Max Smith. "(Officer Wilkerson) was just out there looking and found the vehicle."
As he was examining the car, officer Wilkerson reported that Robert Kirts came outside to see what he was checking on. He then arrested Kirts for leaving the scene of a deadly accident.
"That's real good police work is what it is," said Sgt. Smith.
The arrest will, no doubt, be welcome news out at Wea Ridge Middle School where Ebony Knight leaves behind many classmates and friends.
"They're really suffering, crying, asking 'Why that a child was hit and killed?', an innocent child," said Angie Rehmel, who is a bus driver for the school and mother to a young girl who has now lost a best friend. "I don't know what to say to her or how to comfort her, but there's a huge void."
