FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A family made a passionate plea in court for the hit-and-run driver who left two young boys for dead in the street.
Twenty-four-year-old Zachary Benjamins pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of a deadly accident and tampering with evidence, Thursday, for a hit-and-run in Dania Beach back in December 2014. One of the boys hit by Benjamins is lucky to be alive, but his brother did not survive.
Benjamins was arrested 12 days after a mechanic called in a tip to police.
He faced a sentence between five to 35 years in prison for the incident. But after several testimonies from the suspect’s family, the judge sentenced Benjamins to seven and a half years in prison.
The victims were 8-year-old Apollo Brown, who died a few days after the crash in the hospital, and his older brother, 14-year-old Kelv’ron Florence. Florence, who is now 16 years old, was in the courtroom for the sentencing and asked the judge for a lengthy sentence.
Benjamins took the stand and asked for forgiveness from the victim and his family. “The last 556 days, not one of those days has gone by that I don’t think about my choices. My nights are spent praying for your forgiveness. Kelv’ron, I’d do anything to change the events of that evening,” he said, “and have your brother an apology in your honor. I ask specifically for your forgiveness.”
The victim’s parents asked the judge to give the maximum sentence and said that their hearts have been broken. “I just can’t understand how a person can run over kids and watch their parents cry every single day,” said father Apollo Brown Sr.
Selena Brown, the victim’s mother, relived the moments her son was in the hospital. “Everyday I sat by my boys’ beside, holding Apollo by the hands, squeezing, talking to him, kissing him. Hoping, wishing and praying that he would wake up,” she said.
Brown said the judge’s sentencing was not nearly long enough. “I’m hurt. I’m broken every single day. Every single day, me and my husband, we asked this person to turn themselves in, he never came forward,” she said. “There’s no remorse. Two and a half weeks, me and my husband begging and pleading on the news and then you never came forward? The mechanic man came forward. You left my kids to die. My baby is gone forever.”
Florence, meanwhile, has significant lasting injuries from being struck by Benjamins’ car. He can now walk on his own, however, he is unable to run, bend or jump. He is also unable to ease the pain of his family. “She’s always been sad, always crying. She was never like that before, she’s always sad,” Florence said.
Florence said that Benjamins’ words in court went in one ear, and out of the other. He then said he wondered if his brother would still be alive if Benjamins would have stayed on the scene of the accident.
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