HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — On the afternoon of Saturday, June 18, 10-year-old Tamiya Gaines and her father, Arthur Gaines, were riding in a motorcycle near Nine Mile Road when they were hit by a vehicle.
According to the Gaines’s family, a white SUV hit Arthur and his daughter on eastbound I-64 and then took off. The incident, which happened at around 1:30 p.m., left Tamiya with a concussion and brain swelling. While Tamiya is now on the mend and out of the hospital, she’s still struggling to walk. Arthur is still recovering in the hospital.
While Arthur continues to recover physically, his wife Amy told 8News that he still has lingering emotional distress from the incident.
“He says he’s feeling depressed,” Amy Gaines said. “He asked the question, ‘Where’s my daughter?’ He looked over there, she wasn’t moving, she was actually on the street.”
The Gaines family is now asking for the community’s help in finding the person who hit and left Arthur and Tamiya. Amy Gaines said that right now she just wants answers, adding that she’s not necessarily mad and has forgiven the person who hit her loved ones. However, she hopes the person who did this would step up and accept responsibility.
“I don’t really have anger it’s just the emotion that they would actually do something like this,” Gaines said.
Her sister Angela was also frustrated with the circumstances.
“Is there any humanity in the world today?” Harris asked.
Anyone who may have information about this incident or knowledge that could lead to the identification of any suspects involved is asked to contact Virginia State Police at 804-674-2000.
