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Rock Island family seeking justice after car hits 6-year-old boy

The family of 6-year-old Jonas Keel is asking the public to be on the lookout for the car involved in the accident that left him with a broken leg.

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — What started out as a family bike ride quickly turned into a near-death experience for the youngest member of the Keel family, Jonas.

According to Rock Island police, the boy was rushed to the hospital before he was transferred to another facility for his broken leg. The car, a dark-colored Chevy Malibu, was captured on a security camera leaving the scene.

"I'm a server. So I work one shift. I got off at four and came home. He had been at my mom's house all day. He wanted to ride his bike, which is a very normal occurrence for us, everybody has a bike," Jonas' mother Danielle Keel said.

Danielle went to grab her sunglasses for the bike ride when she heard her daughter scream after a loud crash.

"I took off running just from the back here, right to the front where he was," Danielle said. "There was no evidence of a car crash anywhere. So I was like, almost like it's shock-like disbelief like, 'What do you mean, he just got hit by a car? There's no skid marks. There's nothing.' But he was unconscious lying in the grass."

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Danielle discovered that Jonas had been thrown 10 feet from where he had been riding his bike.

Jonas was transported to a nearby hospital, but it wasn't even an hour before doctors said he needed more specialized care for his injuries.

"They immediately knew we had to go to Peoria for the leg issue because it was an open tibia fracture on his right leg. So that required surgery," Danielle said. "We went to Peoria and they performed the surgery the next morning."

Jonas is currently in recovery from his surgery, but he suffered multiple injuries. 

The driver of the dark Chevy Malibu is yet to be found.

"But he remembered he saw that the car hit him. He does. He remembers it was a dark black car, he says. And there was a boy and girl in the front seat," Danielle said.

Now, the Keel family is asking for the community's assistance to identify the hit-and-run driver.

"The vehicle that did it that we have on two different footage, it's like a dark blue Chevy Malibu with rims that are very distinct, they look like flowers. We're looking for that vehicle, it's got to have some type of front-end damage," said Danielle.

Credit: Rock Island Police Department
Credit: Rock Island Police Department

If you know anybody that drives the vehicle, see the vehicle, or if you hear of anybody talking about it, the Keel family asks you to call the Rock Island Police Department or 911.  

RELATED: Rock Island police looking for suspect in hit-and-run that injured juvenile

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