RICHMOND, Va. -- Just eight days after a crash killed a Henrico police officer, two Richmond officers are injured in a crash that killed a 19-year-old girl and injured her 18-year-old driver.
Now the family of 19-year-old Tracey Williams is speaking out as they call for transparency in the investigation of the crash.
According to Richmond Police, 19-year-old Tracey Williams was killed following a crash at the intersection of Bells Road and Castlewood Road Thursday night. The crash involved a vehicle with two police officers in a cruiser and a Buick with Williams and her 18-year-old boyfriend Jeremiah Ruffin behind the wheel.
Their parents said they were delivering for Door Dash. Ruffin is fighting for his life. Both officers are in stable but serious condition.
Flowers and police tape still line the scene of the crash.
The heartbreak and the horror of losing a child is consuming mom Tiara Williams.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without her."
Williams said her heart dropped when Tracey’s best friend called her and told her she hadn’t heard from Tracey. She said it wasn’t like Tracey to not pick up the phone for her best friend.
“That kind of made me panic then I heard about the story about the crash and put two and two together. Then I knew it was her crash,” she said.
Police Chief Gerald Smith said the officers were headed to a code one burglary in progress call. He said they had been authorized to run blue lights and a siren.
“Right now we believe they may have but we cannot say definitely that their blue lights and sirens were on they had authorization we have some clues that could have been the case,” said the Chief.
That statement is why the family is calling for transparency. They want to see any dashcam or body cam. They told CBS6 they are struggling to understand how they didn’t see them. They said they are calling the police for answers and nobody is picking up.
“How do you leave a mom without that kind of information?”
RPD did not respond to CBS6’s request Friday night for a response. Police said in a Friday morning conference that they are investigating the incident.
They also don’t know which vehicle had a green light and which had a red light. Now a family is left grieving the tragic loss of a teenager, as they try to make sense of things with few answers.
“She was kind, loving, everyone who knew her loved her. She was sweet she had no beef with nobody,” said Williams. "She was my heart, losing her. I don’t know what now,” said Williams.
Williams said the situation is made more tragic by the fact that Tracey is the half-sister of Xzavier Hill.
Hill was shot and killed by state police last year following a pursuit on I-64. A grand jury declared that the shooting was justified.
