CLEVELAND — A Cleveland man is searching for answers after his daughter was hit by a car and left for dead on Miles Avenue early Saturday morning.
“There’s so much damage to her little precious body,” Michael Barkley said. “This is the daughter that I raised and to find out now that it’s very possible she may never walk...”
His daughter, 26-year-old Ayana Barkley, is in critical condition at University Hospitals.
He said all his daughter wanted was something to eat after hanging out with her brother overnight but when she was leaving a deli on Miles Avenue around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, she was hit by a car, dragged and left in the street.
Cleveland police confirmed Barkley was at Poochie's Deli at 11921 Miles Ave., and was crossing from north to south when she was struck by a westbound vehicle. The vehicle did not stop at the scene and continued west on Miles Avenue.
Police said Barkley suffered severe trauma and is confined at UH for treatment.
“She’s fighting for her life and we’re just trying to find the people that hit her and left her for dead on the street,” Barkley said.
His daughter recently accepted a job as a trauma nurse at a local hospital, but her father fears those dreams may never come to fruition.
“She’s trying to be a nurse and trying to help other people,” Barkley said, “And then she herself is now fighting for her life.”
Three women saw Ayana Barkley lying in the street after being hit by the car and run over and pulled her to safety.
“And if it wasn’t for the three angels, I thank God for them,” Michael Barkley said. “I can’t remember their names right now, but they know who they are, that made sure that no one else ran over my daughter, she would not be here today.”
The women told Ayana’s father people were drag racing down Miles Avenue before they hit his daughter.
“It’s just not worth it,” Barkley said. “If they’re gonna drive up and down the street like that and be foolish and just reckless, that’s a place to avoid.”
If you have any information on this hit-and-run, you are asked to contact Cleveland police's Accident Investigation Unit at 216-623-5295.
Police reported the suspect vehicle was possibly an early-2000s Ford Explorer that was light in color — gray, silver, white, etc.
Barkley's father has started a GoFundMe page for his daughter, asking for donations to pay for hospital bills and living expenses for her child.
