8-year-old Sesinna Kahsay was hit by a fleeing driver and killed while walking with her three brothers and two sisters in their new neighborhood in Fort Bend County, Texas on June 20, 2019, ABC reports. (Photo: ABC13)
The father of the girl who was killed in a hit-and-run crash gave a tearful interview just days after his 8-year-old daughter died.
Sesinna Kahsay was hit while walking with her three brothers and two sisters on Bissonnet and Hodges Bend on June 20.
“We all lost her love. We all lost her uniqueness, her character,” Berhane Kahsay Asgedom told ABC13′s Steve Campion.
They were new to the neighborhood and were excited about seeing their new school.
Berhane said they moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia three years ago. Before that, they spent 10 years in a refugee camp there.
Berhane said now only faith can pull him through the sudden death of his daughter.
“I know she’s going to go to heaven because of our faith in Jesus Christ,” Berhane
The woman accused in the hit-and-run, 39-year-old Angela Smith, was arrested and charged on Friday.
A woman accused in a hit-and-run crash that killed an 8-year-old girl in Fort Bend County will face upgraded charges.
She did not answer questions as deputies walked her to a patrol car. Sheriff Troy Nehls said during her interview that Smith had little emotion.
“She has not asked about the status of the person she struck. Very little sympathy and quite honestly, very little remorse,” Nehls said in a Friday afternoon news conference.
Twelve minutes after allegedly hitting Sessina, she rear-ended another vehicle. That driver took a picture that helped deputies identify Smith. They say her family led them to her and her car at Edgewood Park in southeast Houston.
ABC13 was there when they took her in. Nehls said she eventually told them why she left.
“The reason she left the scene, she didn’t stop is because she was scared,” Nehls said. “She had a suspended driver’s license, but she knew she hit somebody.”
Her car’s driver’s side windshield was shattered. The car’s hood was dented. Investigators say the child flew 20 feet on impact.
The victim was crossing Bissonnet at the crosswalk with her brother and sister. Deputies say Smith ran the stop sign and hit the girl.
“All of a sudden I heard my neighbor saying, ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’” Bolanle Awoniyi said.
Awoniyi called 911. She says the little girl had a faint pulse when paramedics arrived.
The child was pronounced dead Saturday evening.
A GoFundMe account has been launched to help the Kahsay family pay for Sessina’s funeral.
Smith was originally charged with failure to stop and render aid, a 3rd degree felony with bond set at $40,000.
Her charges were updated Sunday to felony failure to stop and render aid in the second degree. Smith’s bond was increased to $100,000.
Her now-deleted social media accounts show her with children.
In 2008, Smith was convicted on marijuana possession in Harris County.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe account has been made for Sesinna’s funeral expenses. You can make a donation through here.
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