A family is heartbroken after a 6-year-old girl is killed in a horrific car collision in Coral Springs. NBC6’s Niko Clemmons reports
Six-year-old Harlow Jet Tran had her entire life ahead of her. She was your typical child: loved to draw, loved her cats and loved her family.
Her birthday was two months away. She spoke Vietnamese, Spanish and English. She was the light in everyone's life, her godmother Grecia Sotomayor said.
"Loved with her full chest, her full heart,” Sotomayor said. “This is not right, this should never have happened.”
Harlow was on her way home with her great-grandmother Sunday. At the same time, Coral Springs Police said they were trying to pull over Chevon Graham because he was driving with dark tints.
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Investigators said Graham didn't stop and sped off, but because of their department policy, the officer did not give chase and turned off their lights and sirens.
Moments later, Graham collided with the car the 6-year-old and her great-grandmother were in at Sample Road and Northwest 85th Avenue, police said. Harlow was ejected from the car and later died. Harlow's great-grandmother is still in the hospital.
Surveillance video from a nearby apartment complex shows an officer pulling up behind both cars seconds later. Graham crashed into two other cars feet away.
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Police said Graham was driving with a suspended license and two other people were also in the car with him.
Enrique Perez, Harlow's great-uncle, said his mother was driving the car.
“To hear my mother call from the accident scene and beg to be taken, to give that little girl a chance, that's not something you can forget,” Perez said. “Chevon Graham is a child murderer."
Harlow's godmother said she's disappointed that police turned off their lights and sirens. She believes their tragedy was preventable.
“It's been a combination of anger, disbelief,” Sotomayor said. “He ripped that car in half, he threw my baby in the air.”
She has Harlow's name tattooed on her arm and memories etched in her heart. Right now, the family wants justice and one more thing.
“There's no other way to put it, we want Harlow back,” Sotomayor said.
There is a GoFundMe created for the family.
