9-Year-Old Girl Dies in Hit-and-Run

Gwinnett Police arrested a 16-year-old Lawrenceville driver who left the scene after his vehicle struck and killed a 9-year-old Lawrenceville girl about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (April 19).

The accident occurred on Club Drive in between Woodstream Drive and Kibbe Circle, near the  in unincorporated Duluth. The girl was identified as Gracelle Sanders.

The preliminary investigation revealed that the driver was heading south on Club Drive driving a black 2001 Mazda Tribute, according to Gwinnett Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter. The girl attempted to cross Club Drive and stepped into the path of the driver, who continued south on Club Drive and did not stop to render aid, Ritter said. She died on scene as a result of the injuries sustained in the collision, he said. 

The teenage driver proceeded to the QT located at Beaver Ruin Road and Steve Reynolds Boulevard, just north of Lilburn, and attempted to clean the front of his vehicle and eventually called the police to file a false accident report, Ritter said.

The driver was arrested and charged with hit and run with serious injury or death, first degree vehicular homicide, false report of a crime, tampering with evidence, and violation of driver’s license restrictions, Ritter reported. He was released to the custody of the Regional Youth Detention Center, Ritter said. The investigation is continuing, he said.

Sanders is the second Lawrenceville child this month to be killed after being hit by a car. On April 6, 9-year-old Christopher Giles was struck by a car after police say he failed to stop at a stop sign on Paden Drive while riding his bike in unincorporated Lawrenceville. Giles died from his injuries two days later. The driver in that case was not charged.

It also is the third hit-and-run death involving a Lawrenceville youth in four months. , a Lawrenceville resident who attended Berkmar High School in Lilburn, was struck and killed late in the evening on Dec.. 7 on Pleasant Hill Road near Gwinnett Place Mall. The driver has not been found.