NORFOLK, Va. – As a memorial grows for 7-year-old Jailynn Santiful, her mother Sierra Coleman is turning her grief into action.
Along the busy stretch of Pickett Road, the steady stream of cars seems endless. Neighbors said drivers hardly ever go the 25-mile-speed limit.
“Every day, they speed up and down this street every day,” said one neighbor who’s lived on Pickett for 13 years.
It was along the road, over Labor Day weekend, where Jailynn was struck and killed.
Jailynn’s heartbroken mother said her daughter was crossing the street near Old Court Drive just a few feet away from their home on Saturday, September 3. She died at the hospital an hour later.
Norfolk Police said the driver stayed on the scene. So far, that driver is not accused of speeding and is not facing charges at this time.
“We just moved here. We haven’t even been here for 30 days,” said Coleman. “As much as people tell me to pray, she’s not coming back and that’s something I have to live with for the rest of my life.”
Coleman is now pushing through her pain to make the street safer. She’s hoping to put a stop sign or speed bump at the corner to help keep this from happening to anyone else.
“There’s no reason why you should be flying down this road,” she said.
Mike Merritt, the president of Bike Norfolk, is stepping in to help. He advocates for safer streets in the city.
“Pickett Road is a fairly wide street and there’s not one crosswalk set up for pedestrians to cross,” Merritt said. “We tell our children they need to cross the street at the crosswalk but then we don’t provide a crosswalk for the children to cross at.”
Besides crosswalks, Merritt said adding bike lanes can narrow the road and force a driver to slow down. Speed bumps and changing the design of the road could also help cut down on the number of pedestrian-related car deaths.
“With the data from this year, we’re almost backtracking and going in the wrong direction,” he said.
Numbers from the DMVshow there were a total of nine pedestrian-related car deaths in Norfolk last year, matching the same number of deaths in the city so far this year.
Coleman is hopeful they’re moving in the right direction by working to make sure Jailynn’s death isn’t in vain and that her memory will live on.
“It’s messed up that this happened but hopefully this opens peoples’ eyes to slow down,” she said.
Since Jailynn’s death, it has been a nightmare for the family as they wait for answers.
News 3 reporter Antoinette DelBel has asked police several questions, including how fast the driver was going and if the person will face charges, but days later, News 3 still does not have those answers.
Police have declined to respond to those questions and instead issued this brief statement Monday:
“There are no additional details available for release at this time,” said Sgt. Will Pickering. “Per the Traffic Unit, once their investigation is complete it will be turned over to the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office for review. Thank you.”