Girl, 4, Dies in Hit-Run

Police are holding a Los Angeles man on suspicion of manslaughter after a speeding car struck a 4-year-old girl, dragging her several feet to her death.

The child, identified as Hannah Stallings by relatives, was standing in an alley behind her home in the 1100 block of West 57th Street in South-Central Los Angeles about 6:30 p.m. Thursday when a Ford Escort drove through at 35 mph to 50 mph, police and witnesses said.

Hannah, her mother and some family friends were waiting for her stepfather to back the family car out of the garage when the Escort hit Hannah, her 31-year-old mother, Annie Hamilton, and three teenagers.

None of the adults or older children were badly injured or required hospitalization. But Hannah died a short time later at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood.

One of the teenagers, Fernando Tenorio, 16, tried to get Hannah out of the way. “I tried to reach for her, but by that time, the car had already hit me,” he said.

The driver continued down the alley and drove to a home at the end of the block, police and witnesses said. Hannah’s body ended up near an alley wall.

Several witness described the heart-wrenching events that followed.

Neighbors and family members ran to the house where the driver had entered and started banging on his door. He wouldn’t come out, but a short time later, police arrested 32-year-old Houstis Maddox on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Police first suspected he was drunk, but later found him to be under the influence of central nervous system depressants, drugs usually prescribed to calm people’s nerves, said Det. Scott Sherman.

Maddox had been accompanied by two young cousins, Jahlena Perkins, 9, and Keith Gordon, 5. Their mother let them stay home from school Friday because they were so disturbed by what they had seen.

Jahlena said she had nightmares about her playmate’s death.

“I couldn’t sleep because [she] was one of my friends,” she said.

Mary Jo Hamilton, Hannah’s grandmother, described her as an outgoing, friendly child who would smile at just about anyone.

Hannah’s mother decided to donate her daughter’s organs and eyes, Hamilton said.

“Maybe Hannah can live, to a degree,” she said, “through some other kids.”