Family Begs For Answers After Driver Kills Street Vendors In North Highlands: 'Why My Sisters?'
NORTH HIGHLANDS (CBS13) - Raw emotion and unfiltered anger poured out as family members begged for answers after a driver fatally struck two street vendors in North Highlands.
"Oh this hurts. Why my sisters? I don't know," said Ricky Berry.
Berry stood and prayed at the corner where his sisters were hit and killed Friday afternoon. Investigators say an 18-year-old driver was trying to beat the yellow light at the corner of Watt Avenue and Don Julio Boulevard when she lost control of her car.
The vehicle went straight through the intersection and plowed right through a street vendor tent.
Family members aren't holding back as they call for change.
"This is over and over. This isn't just today. This is a daily thing, an everyday thing down here," said Kristine Kaestner.
The victims—Sheila Berry, 60, and Ethel Riley, 56—were sisters. Witnesses say they likely never saw it coming as they never heard the driver hit the brakes.
"We want speed bumps, it has to be. This is crazy," said Kaestner.
Theresa Long was a regular customer. In tears, she went to the familiar street corner toting some of her favorite purchases.
"This is the first Raiders shirt that I ever bought from them when I first moved here," said Long. "The pain that I'm feeling right now I'm going to feel for the rest of my life."
Crews were left cleaning up the wreckage of a hard lesson learned as family and friends call for change so it never happens again.
"They're going to have to remember their parents dying under a car because you didn't want to sit at a light?" said Long.
"I can't believe this happened, I can't believe this. It's hard," said Berry.