COLUMBUS, Ohio — Pieces of broken taillights lay among flowers along the busy street where Deandra Brigham lost her life in a crash earlier this week. On Wednesday night, family and friends gathered at the site of the crash along East Livingston Avenue near South Hamilton Road to mourn.
"It doesn't really make sense, I think we're still really trying to wrap our minds around it,” said Charissa Richardson, a close family friend.
"It's heartbreaking, it's devastating and it doesn't feel right and it doesn't feel fair,” said Tonisha Jordan, Deandra’s cousin.
Deandra died early Monday morning when her car was hit head-on by a wrong-way driver.
The community’s love for Deandra was on full display at the vigil as more than 100 people came together with balloons and candles.
"I don't know how any parent can come back from this. My daughter meant everything to me, man. They took my right hand away,” said Keato Lanier, Deandra’s mother.
Lanier acknowledged her priority now lies in taking care of her 9-year-old grandson, Deandra’s son.
"This is not fair, and this is not fair to my grandson. I gotta make sure that he stays loved,” Lanier said.
Deandra’s best friend of more than 20 years, Jonniqua Lindsey, said Deandra’s son was her world.
"She was so proud of him with everything that he has ever done in his little nine years of life,” Lindsey said.
The wrong-way driver, identified as 19-year-old Samuel Beyene, also did not survive the crash, as well as another passenger, 19-year-old Joel Beyene. A third passenger was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
"I'm still angry about it, but to know that two people from that side have now lost their life as well, I can only feel bad for the mother,” Lindsey said.
According to the crash report, the wrong-way driver was driving without his headlights on, at a speed of 75 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone. None of the people involved were wearing seatbelts.
As family and friends are left picking up the pieces, they share a painful reminder that incidents like this can be avoided.
"Check your cars, check the lights, put your seatbelts on,” Lindsey said.
"It's time to start taking this driving thing serious. Like of course, it should've been serious, but seriously it's getting out of hand at this point,” Richardson said.