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Taxi Driver Sought As Witness To Deadly Mattapan Hit-And-Run

BOSTON (CBS) – Massachusetts State Police are searching for a vehicle that hit and killed a father in Mattapan then drove off early Saturday.

The 40-year-old man was run down near Morton and Fuller streets just after midnight. Boston EMS performed CPR at the scene but he did not survive.

Police have not released his name. His mother, who would only identify him as TJ, said her son was walking home from work when he was struck.  He was the father of five children.

"I know things happen, but I want to know what happened to my son.  That's all I want to know is what happened to my son.  He doesn't deserve it. His children need him, now they have no daddy," the mother, who did not want to be identified, told WBZ-TV.

Pierre Desir
The man killed in the Mattapan hit and run was Pierre Desir, known as TJ, according to his mother. (Family photo)

"I just want to see this person that did this to my child to look me in the eye and tell me why. Whether you were drinking whether you weren't drinking, whatever the case, just look me in the eye. Tell me why you took my baby from me."

Cynthia Barrett has lived on Morton Street for years.

"I was waiting to hear a second impact in terms of cars and I didn't hear that. I just heard the plunge, and I'm thinking the plunge was the body impacting the car, but I've never experienced anything like that," Barrett told WBZ.  "I felt for the individual himself, lying in the street. My thought was, I hope that he just didn't suffer."

mattapan hit and run
The area of a hit and run in Mattapan. (WBZ-TV)

Police called the investigation "very active." No vehicle description has been released.

Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said they're looking for a taxi driver who may have witnessed the collision.

"The taxi driver is sought as a witness only and is not accused of any wrongdoing," Conley said in a statement.

Police said surveillance video shows the cab had no damage. Investigators are "confident" the taxi was not involved in the crash.

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