GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Family, friends, teachers, and classmates all came together Thursday night to remember Dorien Pearsall. The candlelight vigil was held one week after the 12-year-old boy was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Greensboro.
"It was my little brother!" explains Catrinia Hayes, Dorien's older sister. " Arguing, fighting I miss everything about him. There's not one thing that I can't say I don't miss. I miss everything about my brother."
Deniyah Kidd, Dorien's cousin says she'll miss his smile and laugh the most.
"I'll make cards and I'll write about him. And I give him to his mom because that helps me feel better."
Officials say Pearsall was hit by a car traveling south on Ward Road from East Market Street around 11:10 p.m. last Thursday. Pearsall was later pronounced dead at Moses Cone Hospital shortly before midnight. Guilford Country Schools' Spokesperson Nora Murray said Pearsall attended Eastern Guilford Middle School and students and staff have been told. He also played football at Peeler Rec Center.
"I would say telling the students Friday morning that Dorien had passed was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do," says Dorien's math teacher, Allison Wylie.
"We miss his smile," adds Johnathan Moore, Dorien's Social Studies teacher. "He definitely brought his personality every day."
Highway Patrol says the car struck the boy in the travel lanes and fled after the collision. The car involved is believed to be a dark blue BMW 7 Series. Troopers believe the vehicle is a 2003 to 2005 model and has damage to the passenger side with a missing right-side mirror.
If you have any information that could help investigators, contact the N.C. State Highway Patrol at (336) 334-5500.