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MI'YANA GREGORY - 2 yo (8/2014)/ Charged: Aunt; Loyresha Gage - San Francisco CA

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MI'YANA GREGORY - 2 yo (8/2014)/ Charged: Aunt; Loyresha Gage - San Francisco CA Empty MI'YANA GREGORY - 2 yo (8/2014)/ Charged: Aunt; Loyresha Gage - San Francisco CA

Post by mom_in_il Fri Aug 29, 2014 1:52 pm

Mother of toddler killed in hit-and-run wants sister out of jail

Evan Sernoffsky
Updated 12:18 pm, Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Overcome with grief, Shonece Rodgers sat on the couch in her San Francisco apartment Wednesday, surrounded by family members and friends, and struggled to make sense of losing her 2-year-old daughter in a hit-and-run crash downtown.

Rodgers doesn't blame her sister - who was arrested in the little girl's death by police, who said she had left the toddler alone in the middle of a busy street - and said she wants her out of jail immediately. She said the investigation should focus solely on the driver, who remains at large.

"That's not giving My-My no justice," Rodgers said of her daughter, Mi'yana Gregory, at her home in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. Her sister, she said, "made a mistake. The person driving is responsible - period."

But San Francisco authorities don't see it that way. After reviewing security video of the crash, police arrested the aunt, 25-year-old Loyresha Gage, and on Wednesday the district attorney's office charged her with felony child endangerment.

She is scheduled to be arraigned in court Thursday afternoon. She remains jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail.

The unusual criminal case, in a city where officials have been under pressure to cut pedestrian deaths, unfolded at 10:37 p.m. Friday outside the Westfield San Francisco Centre on the 800 block of Mission Street.

Gage, a San Francisco resident, had taken Mi'yana and the girl's twin brother to a movie and was crossing Mission Street between Fourth and Fifth streets to a multistory parking garage, police said.

Toddler left in street

Investigators said Gage walked Mi'yana into the middle of the crosswalk against the signal. Gage then left the toddler in the street, returning to the sidewalk to grab the girl's twin brother, Michael Gregory III, said Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman.

That's when a driver, who had a green light, hit Mi'yana and never stopped, Esparza said. Investigators described the vehicle as a four-door sedan from the 1990s, possibly a Toyota, Honda or Lexus.

While Mi'yana's mother decried the arrest of her sister, the girl's father - who is not in a relationship with Rodgers - expressed somewhat different feelings. Michael Gregory Jr., 20, said he's also been sorting out the anguish of losing his daughter and wants to see that "justice is served."

"I'm very devastated that it happened on her watch," he said Wednesday of Gage. "I just feel like my kid should not have been out at 10 o'clock at night. I don't care if she's with me, her mom or the president. Somebody needs to own up to this and take responsibility."

Mi'yana's paternal great-grandmother, 59-year-old Cynthia Johnson, called the tragedy "shocking" as she worked Wednesday at a hair salon on Third Street in the Bayview. She said she lost two sons in 2000 - one shot while being robbed in Richmond, the other slain in a drive-by shooting in San Francisco.

'No-win situation'

"I've buried my two sons," she said. "But this is the worst. It's just a horrible situation for any family to be in."

Johnson said friends and community members have been praying for the family. She called Gage's arrest a "no-win situation."

"No matter who is charged, you can't bring my baby back," she said. "It only makes more turmoil."

Johnson joined Rodgers and her grandson on Sunday for a vigil near where Mi'yana was killed and publicly urged the driver in the deadly collision to come forward.

Esparza, though, noted another complication in the case: There's a chance the driver didn't know he or she had hit the little girl. Still, Esparza said, the driver is likely aware of what happened by now and should come forward.

"If you hit a squirrel, you know," Johnson said, refuting the possibility that the driver was oblivious to the collision. "I think he or she got scared. You would have to feel the bump."

Since the incident, a memorial of stuffed animals, flowers, candles and pictures has grown at the site on Mission Street. Flyers urging the driver to surrender to police are also posted. A similar memorial is growing in front of Rodgers' apartment.

She said her son knows his twin sister is gone, but is likely too young to grasp the gravity of the situation.

"He told me she got hit by a car," she said. "That's crazy."

Remembering Mi'yana

To help: Shonece Rodgers, the mother of Mi'yana Gregory, started a memorial fund to help pay for the girl's funeral and other costs associated with her death. To donate, go to www.gofundme.com/mymymemorialfund.

Memorial: The family will gather at noon Sunday at Duggan's Funeral Service at 3434 17th St. in San Francisco to remember the little girl.

Tips: Anyone with information about the fatal collision, the car or the driver is urged to call an anonymous police tip line at (415) 575-4444.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dad-wants-justice-after-arrest-in-S-F-girl-s-5700935.php
mom_in_il
mom_in_il
Supreme Commander of the Universe With Cape AND Tights AND Fancy Headgear
Supreme Commander of the Universe With Cape AND Tights AND Fancy Headgear


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