Family Of 4-Year-Old Girl Killed In Carmichael Crash Blames Road Rage

CARMICHAEL (CBS13) — A 4-year-old girl is dead, and her mother is in the hospital following a violent crash in Carmichael. Her family says the crash was caused by road rage.

The child's grandmother, Cheri Chadwick, is in agony.

"I just wish my baby could be here," Chadwick said. "I wish this didn't happen, but it did. She's just not supposed to be gone."

Chadwick says her 4-year-old granddaughter Jer'Liyah Stevenson loved marshmallows, make-up, and wearing her glasses.

Stevenson's mother Chardae Murphy was driving the car on Winding Way around 7:20 a.m. Thursday morning when the vehicle left the road and hit a tree. She is recovering with broken ribs and internal injuries.

The CHP is investigating the cause of the crash, including a statement by Murphy that a vehicle ran her off the roadway.

"This was not an accident, this was a road rage," Chadwick said. "My daughter woke up and said that."

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Murphy's mother says her daughter described a scary scene before the crash.

"They pulled in front of her, and kept antagonizing her, slamming on his brakes," Chadwick said.

The vehicle matching Murphy's description, a green-colored Jeep, was identified by family at John Barrett Middle school later in the day. Sacramento Sheriff's Deputies responded to the school after some family members went to confront the driver, prompting the school to go on lockdown when a fight broke out.

"[I] asked him, 'Was you driving the Jeep?' and he acted like he didn't know what was going on," Terrance Chadwick said, "and temper flared from there."

Sheriff's deputies handed out citations to the family members and will turn over their report to crash investigators. The family is now searching for justice while suffering the painful loss of a child.

"I still want her back," Cheri Chadwick said. "I know it ain't going to happen, but she ain't supposed to be gone. She is not supposed to be gone."

The family and CHP are both asking any witnesses who saw what happened to come forward.