The city is shaken. Another hit and run has taken the life of a New Yorker. On her way to the store past Friday, March 3, Tamika Richards, 41, a Brooklyn mother of six and grandma to a sixth-month-old grandson, was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver in Coney Island. Her final act was reportedly one of love: shielding her son Ray-Quan Parker, 18, from the oncoming red truck.
At press time, Ray-Quan is in stable condition after having just undergone surgery. He is still recovering in the hospital.
Richards is also a member of the Amsterdam News extended family via her sister, Shaquana Folks, who is the paper’s Legal and Classified Advertising consultant.
Richards was the mother of six children and the oldest of eight siblings.
The Folks and Richards are a family with members both in New York and down South.
Through her grief and tears, Shaquana told the Amsterdam News, “To the person that killed my sister Tamika Richards with her son, my nephew Ray-Quan Parker, please turn yourself in. You know why? Because you caused such a huge hurt and turmoil for the family and made a hole that will never be fixed!”
“My heart goes out to the families broken by traffic violence this weekend,” said Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers in a statement. “Tamika Richards should be home with her six children tonight. She died fighting to protect her child in Brooklyn from an oncoming driver who fled the scene.”
The incident occurred between the intersection of Mermaid Avenue and West 24th Street. Police said the collision was reported to them right before 9 p.m. last Friday night. Richards was a block away from her home. The NYPD added that the driver absconded westbound on Mermaid Avenue, where he probably drove past a nearby police station.
Shaquana added of her oldest sister, “She was my father’s first-born. She was the one that made him a father. My sister’s not coming back, and I’m completely broken. The driver should give himself or herself up.”
Prof. Chris Herrmann, a GIS-expert at John Jay College, identified multiple traffic cameras along the driver’s presumed route, which he said greatly increases the chances of catching the driver. But justice in hit-and-run cases involving serious injuries and/or death is hard to come by in New York City, with only four of 79 cases solved last year.
NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey asked the Amsterdam News to pass on his message: “First and foremost, I want to extend condolences to the family. It’s terrible. This was a life taken too soon. She was a mother of six, a grandmother, a sibling with a family that looked up to her. They depended upon her. To the person who did this, look at the pain you have caused. Turn yourself in. The NYPD will spare no expense to look for you. We will never stop trying to find you, and we will.”
“We want to thank everyone for their love and support, and as a family, we ask if people will please allow our privacy as we continue to mourn and are preparing for our final arrangements,” Shaquana Folks told the Amsterdam News.
We, her colleagues, send our deepest sympathies and sincerest condolences to the family.
A GoFundMe has been established by Richards’s family to support her children and pay for funeral costs. It can be found at https://gofund.me/4cfd6148.
To the the person who committed this act. Please turn yourself in. You will not have a peaceful moment on this earth unless you do. My condolences to the family and friends.
My deepest condolences to the family members mourning the loss of a heroic mom wow sad 😭
RIP beautiful lady 😗
Absolutely heartbreaking…horrifying!! TURN YOURSELF IN!!!