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A Brookhaven mother is speaking publicly for the first time after her 19-year-old daughter was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing a busy intersection with her boyfriend.
Brookhaven hit-and-run
Brookhaven police say 54-year-old Omar Ali, of Mableton, struck Maryury Lopez on Tuesday afternoon while she was legally crossing in a marked crosswalk at Clairmont Road and Dresden Drive.
Investigators say Ali drove away but returned about 20 minutes later and was arrested.
Traffic-camera video confirmed the victim had the right of way.
Ali is charged with vehicular homicide, felony hit-and-run and failure to yield to a pedestrian.
The case remains under investigation.
Mother of Maryury Lopez
Her mother, Hortencia Lopez, spoke through her son, who translated from Spanish, during an emotional 30-minute interview.
“There’s not a day or a second that goes by without her thinking about her,” her son said.
Lopez said her daughter had just stepped into the crosswalk when the truck hit her and left her to die.
“Terrible, terrible,” she said, responding to the question of how she was doing.
“She was good when she was alive, when my sister was alive. Now that she isn’t alive, she’s not in the best condition,” her son said.
Lopez remembers the exact moment she found out.
“An unknown person called on the phone and said that she passed away. When he called her. She thought it was a joke,” her translator said.
But it was not a joke.
“And to this day she doesn’t believe it.”
When asked what she would say to the driver if given the chance, she answered softly.
“What can I tell him? I wouldn’t tell him anything.”
She said she wants only one thing now.
“She wants the max penalty and that he’s not allowed to be free in the streets.”
“I want my daughter back.”
Maryury loved drawing and wanted to become an artist, her mother said.
A GoFundMe has been launched to help with funeral expenses.
