WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) — A community memorial is growing near the site where a 5-year-old boy was killed by a hit-and-run driver.
It happened on Tuesday night near the border of Center Line and Warren. Family and friends held a vigil on Wednesday night, and a GoFundMe is set up to help Preston Singleton's family with the financial burden of losing their young son.
While police have arrested the driver who hit the child and took off, the boy's family continues to grieve the tragic loss.
"Sweetest little boy you ever met," Scott Draper, Preston's grandfather, said.
Draper is heartbroken as he spoke about his grandson, who was killed while riding his bike on Van Dyke at Stephens Rd.
"They were crossing at the crosswalk and you could clearly see that this driver started going faster and faster and he just hit my grandson and kept right on going," Draper said.
At the time of the accident, Preston, his cousin and aunt were trying to cross Van Dyke.
Witnesses told police the 22-year-old driver from Detroit sped up through a yellow light.
"His last words were, he looked back at his Aunt and he said, 'Look Rachel, I can go faster.' He turned and this guy went even faster and hit him. And he just missed my other grandson by literally an inch, if you look at the video," Draper said.
Both friends and strangers have come out to the growing makeshift memorial to provide comfort to the boy's grieving father.
"Everybody loved him. He lit up the room anywhere he went, he was so positive. Just enjoyed life. He was high on life," Christopher Singleton, Preston's father, said.
