A year and a half after losing her 9-year-old son, Max, in a hit-and-run crash, Jamie Abercrombie says the pain remains unbearable.

"I'm just taking it day by day," Abercrombie said. "It's not easy."

In East Dallas, a memorial marks the spot near Materhorn Drive and San Paula Avenue where Max was struck by a pickup while riding his scooter near his grandmother's house.

Mother recalls tragic day of crash

"I saw my baby riding on the sidewalk and next thing I know I look up and everybody was screaming and running towards him," Abercrombie said. "I was the first one to grab him and hold him and realize what had happened. I immediately started doing CPR on him and he was not… He had a pulse, but he was not conscious."

Max was rushed to the hospital but did not survive. Abercrombie said the driver never stopped to help, though he returned to the scene twice without identifying himself.

"From what I heard, it was a questioning at the scene and then he got to go home," she said.

Family questions Dallas police handling of case

Attorney Andrew Howard said the case should have resulted in criminal charges. 

"In our estimation, there were multiple felonies that this person committed," he said. "This is a potential manslaughter, certainly a hit-and-run, and on and on."

Howard added that in other Dallas-area crashes under similar circumstances, drivers were arrested quickly.

Dallas police told CBS News Texas that officers acted appropriately. 

"The standard protocol was followed by the officers and investigators," the department said in a statement. "The driver returned to the scene, in compliance with the law regarding an involvement in a crash. The investigation determined that no offense occurred."

Abercrombie said her family has struggled to mourn since the crash.

"It just hits in waves," said Max's sister, Hailey. "One day I'll be okay and then the next day I'll feel horrible, and I'm upset. And it hits hard."

"It's like a wound that I have to keep opening," Abercrombie said.

She and her family say they want justice.