A mother has been killed in the US as she tried to stop two men from stealing her car with her sleeping six-year-old son inside.

Speech therapist Alexa Stakely, 29, suffered a head injury after being struck by the vehicle as it was being driven away and was later pronounced dead at hospital.

The thieves abandoned the car a short distance away and ran past Ms Stakely lying in the road as they fled the scene in Columbus, Ohio.

Her son was unharmed, police said.

Ms Stakely, a single mother who worked two jobs, had just finished her shift as a waitress and was picking her son up from his babysitter’s home at around 1.30am on Thursday.

After taking the sleeping boy to her Honda SUV, which she had left running, she then returned to the babysitter’s to get the child’s belongings.

As she returned to her vehicle, Ms Stakely saw someone starting to back it out onto the road and she ran toward the car, screaming for her son and telling the driver to stop.

She was knocked down as it sped off.

The two suspects had been among a group of men caught on security camera earlier looking into nearby flats.

They remained at large on Friday.

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Ms Stakely also worked as a speech-language therapist at a primary school.

The Canal Winchester Local Schools District said in a statement that she was “a great mom who was incredibly dedicated to her son”.

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It added: “Alexa was passionate about children and speech-language therapy.

“She was smart and compassionate, and she cared so much about helping children develop their ability to communicate.

“Ms Stakely made a difference in the lives of the students and families she worked with and will be missed by so many in our community and beyond.”

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