MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Detectives are searching for two-year-old Maritza Cherident’s killer — a hit-and-run driver in Miami-Dade County.
Her mother remained hospitalized on Saturday at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Her father, Mikenson Cherident, was heartbroken. The Haitian parents had big dreams for their only daughter when they moved to South Florida from Chile late last year.
On Friday, near the crime scene, Haitian-American Rev. Jackson Janvier, of the Clinic of Restoration Church of God, stood next to the tearful father, who still had his head bandaged.
“I want the person who did that ... to respond to police,” Janvier told Local 10 News Reporter Rosh Lowe.
The last time Mikenson Cherident and his wife were with their daughter Maritza was on Wednesday. They were walking in Miami-Dade’s Pinewood residential neighborhood, just west of Interstate 95 and Barry University.
The tragedy was at about 9:40 p.m. They attempted to cross Northwest12th Avenue, from east to west, when a driver ran them over near Northwest 116th Terrace — and didn’t stop to help them.
The distraught father said he didn’t see the car coming and it all happened so fast he couldn’t see the color of the car. Detective Alvaro Zavaleta is asking anyone who may have witnessed the hit-and-run crash or was involved to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477. There is a $5,000 reward for information resulting in an arrest in the case.
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