Hit-and-run kills Milwaukee girl, injures mother; charges filed
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man is charged in a hit-and-run that killed a 4-year-old girl and seriously injured her mother on Tuesday morning, April 30. Court records show this is not the first time he has killed a pedestrian from behind the wheel.
Prosecutors said the driver, 30-year-old Donald Crayton, was the woman's live-in boyfriend. Adriana Merkel, 21, is also charged in the case.
Milwaukee police said 27-year-old Gloria Hymes and her 4-year-old daughter, Zekani Hymes-Wilson, were crossing the street to get a pizza when a speeding driver hit them on Teutonia near Vera. According to a search warrant, investigators are looking into the fatal hit-and-run as an intentional act.
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Video from the scene showed a man and a passenger got out to check on the victims before the man ran back to his vehicle and sped away. Authorities have now identified that man as Crayton. He is charged with hit-and-run, among other crimes. The passenger was identified as Crayton's sister.
Hours after the fatal hit-and-run, police found Crayton's damaged vehicle ditched on train tracks on Calumet between 81st and 87th streets. Officers tracked him down later that night after prosecutors say he and Merkel led police on a high-speed chase and crashed at 72nd and North in Wauwatosa. Merkel told investigators she, too, is Crayton's girlfriend.
Court records show Crayton was convicted of hitting and killing a man while driving in 2018. He served 10 months in jail and was eventually given three years of probation in 2019. The criminal complaint filed against him this week shows his traffic offenses date back to at least 2015, and he has never had a valid driver's license.
On Wednesday, the 4-year-old's uncle spoke to FOX6 about what he wants to happen to the man responsible for taking the girl's life.
"This time they should just put him under the jail, you know what I'm saying?" Kendall Hymes said. "So he won't have to do this to nobody else's family."
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In all, Crayton is charged with:
Hit-and-run resulting in death
Knowingly operating a motor vehicle while suspended causing death
Hit-and-run resulting in great bodily harm
Knowingly operating a motor vehicle while suspended causing great bodily harm
Obstructing an officer
Solicitation of fleeing/eluding an officer
Merkel is charged in the case with fleeing/eluding police and second-degree recklessly endangering safety.
