Police Search for Hit-and-Run Driver Who Killed Woman in Wheelchair in Little Haiti

Even in a city where deadly hit-and-runs are a weekly occurrence, a vehicular homicide this weekend was particularly brutal. Early Sunday morning, 39-year-old Takesha Shawanna Hayes -- who used a motorized wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis -- was hit by a car as she rolled through a Little Haiti intersection...

By Trevor Bach

February 23, 2015

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Even in a city where deadly hit-and-runs are a weekly occurrence, a vehicular homicide this weekend was particularly brutal. Early Sunday morning, 39-year-old Takesha Shawanna Hayes -- who used a motorized wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis -- was hit by a car as she rolled through a Little Haiti intersection.

The car fled the scene, and Hayes died from her injuries. As police continue to search for the culprit this morning, Hayes' family remembers her and pleads for justice.

"I really lost my mama. I'm lost for words my heart can't take this," Hayes' daughter, Najee, posted on Facebook. "Anybody knew my mama they know she was cool and so funny man she didn't deserve that all."

Hayes, a mother of two, was on her way to meet her boyfriend around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, her family told reporters.

Witnesses couldn't provide police with any definite leads on a make or model of the car.

"I pray that you turn yourself in and don't do this to anyone else," Kendra Broomfield, Hayes' younger sister, told CBS 4, "because what happened is not fair."

"Detectives are urging anyone that knows of the whereabouts of the driver and vehicle with possible front-end damage to notify them immediately," Miami Police spokesperson Kenia Fallat said in a statement Sunday.

Police ask anyone with leads in the case to call 305-471-TIPS.

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