Girl Remains On Life Support After Okmulgee Accident

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The family of a little girl struck in a hit-and-run accident is pleading for the driver to come forward.  They say nine-year-old Piper Haney could be taken off life support by Thursday night.

Piper's grandmother, Marsha Sloan, is saying goodbye to her granddaughter because she says there's no hope for recovery.  Sloan says she understands it might have been an accident, but she wonders how the hit-and-run driver is able to sleep at night.

8/25/2009  Related Story: POLICE: Truck In Okmulgee Hit And Run Was Likely A Nissan

"She could not wait to go to church. She'd go to church every day if they'd let her. She just, she just loved life to the fullest," said Marsha Sloan.

Piper has been fighting for her life for six days, surviving several surgeries and a medically induced coma, but the family says that fight is coming to an end.

"I'm numb, I'm mad, I'm very upset," said Marsha Sloan.

Okmulgee police say Piper was hit by a vehicle and knocked off her bike near the city park.  The driver took off.  Police have been looking for that person for the last week.

"Whoever done this, I just hope they come forward. I don't see personally, if you have a heart of any kind, how you can live with yourself knowing that you hit a child and not stop?" said Marsha Sloan.

Police say nine-year-old Piper was riding her bike along 20th street, at dusk, when she lost control and went into oncoming traffic. Police say based on a witness statements and debris collected at the scene, the driver knows what he or she did. And, the police chief wants them to come forward.

"An investigation, by its very nature, is a search for the truth. All we want is to gather the facts," said Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice.

Other family members are still with Piper in the hospital and they say she could be taken off life support in a matter of days.  She began the fourth grade, just two weeks ago.

Chief Prentice says three detectives and two captains are investigating the hit-and-run, but he's asking the driver to come forward voluntarily and give a statement.  He says the vehicle was likely a Nissan pickup, possibly a 1988 to 1996 model.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Okmulgee Police Department at 918-756-3511.