Family of 2-year-old boy killed in hit and run begs driver to surrender

For three agonizing days after the crash on Lehigh Avenue, 2-year-old David Aliea clung to life at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.

His mother, Josephine Rivera, had been hit, too - struck by a car that had been driven from the scene Monday night as mother and son lay critically injured in the street.

Rivera recovered, only to spend the next several days at the bedside of her son. The child died Thursday morning.

Whoever was behind the wheel of the car that killed him remains at large. Police released surveillance footage of the car Thursday afternoon, and David's large family gathered outside his house - feet from the intersection where he was killed - to plead for tips in the case.

"We want justice. If you're out there, turn yourself in," said Rivera's brother, Jeremiah.

Cousins and uncles and aunts spoke of the cars often seen speeding down Mascher Street - where Rivera lived with her son, her mother, and her grandparents - and asked the city to install speed bumps and signs to protect the children who play there.

Police increased the reward in the case to $20,000.

Friends and relatives described Rivera, 19, and her child as inseparable. She had become a mother at an early age, but easily shouldered the responsibility, they said.

"She dedicated her life to her son," a family friend said.

And she was protective: David, her only child, rarely left her side. He was a happy child - simply "beautiful," Jeremiah Rivera said.

In front of news cameras, relatives took turns speaking of Rivera and her son. Sometimes, the anger and grief overcame them. A cousin broke down in sobs as she spoke of her own children playing with David.

Jeremiah Rivera, wiping away tears, pleaded with the public to "help us."

Angel Massa, Rivera's uncle, said the family was still in shock.

"You always see it [on the news], and you think it's someone else," he said. "You never think it could happen to you."

Police described the car as a white Infiniti sedan, made around 2007, with a moon roof and damage to the front driver's side headlight. The surveillance footage released by police shows the car moving fast down Mascher, past the playground across from Rivera's house. They said the driver may have had a passenger.

Anyone with information on the case is being asked to call the department's accident investigation unit at 215-685-3180.

awhelan@philly.com