Mum of schoolboy killed in hit-and-run crash urges 'everyone to find who took our son away from us'

The devastated mum whose son was killed in a horrific hit-and-run crash has urged 'everyone to find who took our son away from us.' Tragic Keaton Slater, 12, died after he was struck by a BMW car in Coventry last Friday.

West Midlands Police are working around the clock to locate 21-year-old Latvia-born Dolars Aleksanders, who is being sought on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Police believe Aleksanders was driving the vehicle, which contained a total of four men which failed to stop.

Keaton's mum Louise told a news conference today, Wednesday, June 19, that the youngster's death has left their family "devastated and all those who knew him heartbroken." The tearful mum, 51, who was flanked by Keaton's father, Clint, and brothers Kai, 13, and Keanu, 17, said: "We were a family of five but now we are four.

READ MORE: Police in around-the-clock hunt for Dolars Aleksanders as new pictures issued of crash victim

"Our lives will never be the same again and Keaton’s brothers, dad, nana and granddad and myself are devastated. The whole family, his school friends are all heartbroken.” Saying she had initially been reluctant to make a public appeal, the grieving mum added: “Hearing that whoever did this will not hand themselves in has left us all feeling helpless and we need to get justice for our Keaton.

“We just want everyone to find who took our son – Keanu and Kai’s little brother – away from us. Our little, fun-loving joker made everyone laugh all the time. Who did this to Keaton has taken everything away from us all. Please if anyone knows anything … please come forward so we can have justice for our family.”

In a separate statement also read to the media by Louise, Keaton’s brother, Keanu, said: “I will never be able to see him joke around with us again, never be able to see him grow my age. There are not enough words to describe what he meant to us all. Our best friend, our little brother, a son and now an angel, all in one person.”

Coventry City fan Keaton, whose family all wore the club’s colours during the news conference, was pronounced dead at the scene after the collision in Radford Road at about 4.30pm. Sergeant Rich Evans, of the West Midlands’ serious collision investigation unit, said: “We have already made arrests and spoken to a number of people who were also in that car.

“We are working with all our partner agencies to try and establish the whereabouts of the suspect. We are also fully aware that the suspect was born in Latvia and we are doing further inquiries with our international counterparts.”

Another 21-year-old man, arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving on Tuesday, has been released on bail. Police are treating a third man as a witness and have interviewed a fourth male. A fifth man has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and remains in custody.

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