Family wants justice after 41-year-old mother of 6 killed by hit-and-run driver in Brooklyn

ByAnthony Carlo WABC logo
Monday, March 6, 2023
Family wants justice after woman killed by hit-and-run driver
Police are looking for the driver involved in a hit-and-run crash in Coney Island, Brooklyn that killed 41-year-old Tamika Richards and hurt her son.

CONEY ISLAND, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police are still looking for the driver involved in a horrific hit-and-run crash in Brooklyn that killed a single mother of six, and left one of her sons in the hospital.

It's an indescribable pain. The cries of a heartbroken family who had a loved one ruthlessly ripped away in a hit and run in Brooklyn.

"They took my mother, my younger sisters have to grow up without a parent now," said Shatalyah Parker, the victim's oldest daughter. "Just turn yourself in. You hurt a lot of people."

Tamika Richards, a mother of six, was only 41 years old. She leaves behind a big family, some of whom didn't even get a chance to kiss her goodbye. They have been left with only pictures.

"She was amazing, she was a warrior, she was a soldier," said Donnell Folks, Richard's brother.

Richards died a hero, her family says, trying to shield one of her sons,18-year-old Rayquan Parker, from a driver who ended up taking her life and putting him in the hospital.

"She would do anything for anybody," Richard's father Donald Folks said. "She would give you her last. That's the type of person she was."

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Police say the driver barreled into the mother and son as they were crossing Mermaid Avenue at West 24th Street on Coney Island just before 9 p.m. on Friday.

The family says Parker doesn't even know his mother is gone yet.

"He has to get surgery today, he can't find out right now until he is stable," Richard's sister Shaquana Folks said. "And we're asking everyone in the world please keep us in prayer."

This devastated family is now committed to getting justice.

"I want to know who killed my sister," Donnell Folks said.

They are trying to make sense of a tragedy. A mother who just became a grandmother, who is now gone too soon.

"The more you run, the more you're hurting, everyone else we just want justice for my mother," xx said.

Now the family has set up a GoFundMe page.

Police are looking for a red truck they say was involved in the hit and run. It was last seen going westbound on Mermaid Avenue.

The family says they won't rest until the driver is caught.

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