MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - A family is making a plea for justice after, police said, a father was fatally struck by a car in Miami Gardens.
Witnesses said 29-year-old Lorenzo Cunningham was fatally struck when he was walking on the intersection of Northwest 152nd Terrace and 22nd Avenue early Wednesday morning.
“It sounded like it shook everybody’s house around here,” said witness George Williams.
According to the police report, 24-year-old Dayana Tissert was heading north on Northwest 22nd Avenue shortly after 2 a.m. when Cunningham stepped off the sidewalk. She lost control of her car, fatally striking Cunningham.
The victim leaves behind two children.
“I saw that car wrapped around that pole. That’s when we realized his body was in between that car and that pole so smashed up, you couldn’t see him,” said Williams. “She rolled up on that sidewalk, and she had to be doing over 70 [miles per hour] or so.”
“She went on the sidewalk and hit him,” one witness told 7News. “Justice for Lorenzo.”
Tissert was arrested and charged with driving without a license and causing death and serious harm.
Cunningham’s family on Friday stood outside the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office demanding harsher punishment.
“I feel like my heart is broken,” said Cortez Cunningham, the victim’s 9-year-old son. “I felt painful. Super painful, because he was the best in the entire world. He was better than anything I liked.”
He and the rest of the family returned to the crash site later that day to lay more flowers.
Tissert has posted bond, but she now faces an immigration hold.
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