Family: Did Police Play A Role In Son's Death?
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Searching for answers. Terrell Smith---the father of a young girl---was killed in a hit-and-run crash. Now, as his family mourns, they're questioning the role police may have played in the wreck.
Meghan McCorkell has more on their quest for justice.
Tuesday night, friends and family of Smith held a vigil in his honor---as questions remain about how he died.
Loved ones lit candles in the spot where 42-year-old Terrell Smith lost his life.
"He won't never be forgotten," said his mother, Rosalind Smith. "Never."
Smith was driving a red sedan in the intersection of West Lexington and Calhoun when a gray car came flying through and hit him Monday. Police say they'd attempted to stop the gray car after officers noticed it driving erratically. They ended the pursuit, fearing the driver was a danger. Minutes later, the crash happened.
The occupants of that gray car ran before police arrived.
"One minute they're saying the police wasn't pursuing them. Next minute, they say the police was pursuing them," said Darryl Smith, Terrell's brother.
Now Smith's family is struggling to explain to his three-year-old daughter why her father is gone.
The case bears similarities to another deadly hit-and-run that killed a 12-year-old girl just this May. Shanizya Taft died when a suspect who was trying to evade police smashed into her family's minivan along East Preston Street. In that case, police also say officers had stopped pursuing the car. Twenty-year-old Kevin Simpson is now charged with manslaughter in Taft's death.
Smith's family says they want someone behind bars in this case.
"I just want them people brought...brought to justice. My son's done. They didn't have to take my son like that," Rosalind Smith said.
"Whoever did this, please, please come forward and serve justice so my cousin can rest in peace," said Terrell's cousin, Renee Smith Wortham.
And this family can find some closure.
Two pedestrians were also injured in the crash. One remains hospitalized.
Police officials are investigating the crash to see if the officers' actions played any role in the tragedy.
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