Mother of North Philadelphia hit-and-run victim speaks out: “I can’t even put it into words”

By SIAFA LEWIS

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A mother made an emotional plea after her daughter was killed by a hit-and-run driver in North Philadelphia.

The hit-and-run happened Thursday morning on North Broad near Somerset Street and left 35-year-old Tamarah Savage, who was just days away from celebrating her birthday, dead.

Investigators say they are looking for a white car — possibly a Toyota.

Early Thursday morning at around 3:30, a car hit Savage with such force that it sent her airborne, launching her out of one of her sneakers.

The head trauma she suffered was so severe, she was pronounced dead at the scene just minutes later.

Siafa Lewis: “What have the last 24 hours been like for you?”

Rhonda Savage: “Hell. Devastating. I can’t even put it into words.”

Rhonda Savage, Tamarah’s mother, agreed to speak to CBS News Philadelphia hoping to shine attention to the case and that it might help police find the driver responsible for her daughter’s death.

“Someone killed my daughter and I would like to know: why? I would like to know something,” Rhonda Savage said.

While the family deals with the overwhelming grief of losing a loved one, they’re also demanding answers about exactly what happened here and for justice for Tamarah.

“I’m just hoping that somebody has footage of that car that hit her,” Naomi Savage, Tamarah’s sister, said. “I’m just hoping. If it’s on Broad Street, cameras are up and down Broad Street. I’m hoping somebody caught a glimpse of something.”

“If someone saw anything, please say something, my daughter’s life has been taken from her two days before her birthday,” Rhonda Savage said. “Her children are motherless.”

Tamarah Savage’s two young children are staying with their paternal grandmother, while Rhonda has been forced to do the one thing no parent ever wants to.

“I was planning, we were planning something for my daughter’s birthday this Saturday and now I have to plan a funeral,” Rhonda Savage said.

Rhonda Savage now waits for an update from Philadelphia police, while reminding us all not to take time for granted.

“You never think the last time you see somebody is going to be the last time,” she said. “And I wish I could have done things differently, maybe held on to her, and I would not be standing here.”

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