CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nearly one year after his 20 year old daughter was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident in Morgantown, Brent Sears says more young people need to be aware of the affects of driving drunk.
“I just don’t understand that young people don’t get the message. They just don’t get it. This happens so often and that’s my point,” Sears said on “580 Live” heard on MetroNews affiliate 580-WCHS in Charleston.
His daughter Carli Sears, a Charleston native, was struck and killed by a pick up truck on Stewart Street in Morgantown in the early morning hours of Jan. 17, 2016.
Last month, Alexander Hambrick, 20, of Winfield, pleaded guilty to DUI causing death and leaving the scene of a deadly accident. Police said Hambrick was drunk when he drove his truck up on a sidewalk killing Sears.
But Brent Sears said the police didn’t inform him immediately that his daughter died.
“No one told me she died. They said well, we’re not allowed to tell you that when you’re driving. I said okay, I understand that,” he said.
These types of accidents happen way too much, Sears said.
“Even if it happened once every five years it would be too much, but this happens multiple times every year in our state,” he said.
Sears was visiting friends in Morgantown during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. She was a graduate of George Washington High School and a student at the University of Mississippi.
Hambrick is a 2015 graduate of Ripley High School. He had completed one semester at WVU when the collision occurred. He told police he was drunk and didn’t remember what happened.
Hambrick faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced Feb. 28.