KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas City, Kansas, man is dead and his two-year-old granddaughter is in the hospital after a hit-and-run crash early Saturday.
Two blocks from Myreona Stewart’s home, she almost lost her whole family.
“It was shocking. It was unreal. It still feels unreal,” Stewart said.
Just after midnight Saturday, her dad, his girlfriend, Myreona’s boyfriend, her 4-year-old brother and her two-year-old daughter were driving home from the store. Police say an SUV with two people inside hit the family’s car at 10th and Parallel.
“I started panicking. I started calling phones. I called my boyfriend’s phone, and he didn’t answer,” Stewart said.
Her dad, 41-year-old Myron Gardner, died on impact. Her daughter, Sha’Maya survived but is in the ICU at Children’s Mercy.
She hasn’t woken up but does respond to pain and her mother’s voice. She said the little girl now suffers from seizures that she didn’t before — and might deal with them for the rest of her life.
“I wanted to feel her pain. Why? You know? I don’t like it. I know I have to stay strong for her,” Stewart said.
Her boyfriend’s shoulder is broken, and her little brother is traumatized. His back hurts, and his stomach won’t settle after the experience.
Police said 25-year-old Kendra Womack was driving the SUV that hit Gardner’s sedan. They said she ran from the scene but later turned herself in. She’s being held on a reckless involuntary manslaughter charge.
“You should feel bad for what you did. I feel like that,” Stewart said. “That’s how I feel. That’s wrong. Even though you turned yourself in, but you ran though.”
Myreona, who is named after her dad, said she will miss him forever.
“You don’t find too many genuine people, like really real genuine people,” Stewart said. “Like, really real genuine people that actually care. You don’t find that many people. Humans are not all the same. Not at all.”
Womack is being held in the Wyandotte County Jail without bond and is awaiting a court date.
