A 32-year-old woman’s dreams of becoming a defense attorney and helping others were stripped from her on Sunday, March 12.
As a result, a mother’s dream of seeing her daughter flourish helping her community was dashed as well.
Breunkia Collins was crossing the street to meet some friends near the 5700 block of South Sherwood Forest Blvd when a car hit her and drove off around 8:45 p.m., according to police.
Collins’ mother, Sharronda Plain, said she initially expected her daughter to survive following surgery but her prognosis changed quickly.
“She did go through surgery, and we were expecting her to recover but the prognosis kept getting worse,” Plain explained. “So at 5:25 a.m. (March 13) her heart stopped beating and they just took her off because she had internal bleeding. They couldn’t get her blood pressure regulated.”
When the accident happened, Plain said one of her daughter’s friends called her from Breunkia’s phone to deliver the news.
“Breunkia left home at 7:42 p.m. that Sunday night,” she recalled. “The phone call came to me at 8:15. It’s like a 22-minute drive from her residence to the place. They told me that she was hit and that someone needs to get out there. When one of my family members did make it there, they had already transported her to the hospital. We had to detour and go to the hospital. For 8:15, you can say 30 minutes and my child was gone.”
Plain said the driver’s actions took a loving person from this world.
“A loving, caring person,” Plain said to describe her daughter. “She’d give the shirt off her back, willing to help you. Very quiet person, but she was one that if she can help, she was going to help and her determination was to, you know with people that were unjustly in jail. She was going to fight for them and this has ended that.”
According to Plain, the vehicle of interest in her daughter’s death is a white Dodge Charger.
“I don’t know if it was a he. I don’t know if it was a she,” Plain stated. “But what I’m saying is that you should have had the common courtesy to come back and see. Was she okay? You hit her and you went to wherever you were going. You did not stop. And they weren’t doing 30 miles an hour. They weren’t doing 20 miles an hour. I’m gonna guess the person was speeding because of the way that they say my child went in the air 30 feet. You were speeding.”
“I want answers,” she continued. “I want to know what were you thinking. How did you not see her? Breunkia’s a very light-skinned young lady. Breunkia had on blue jeans. She was 5’8, very attractive and well-shaped young lady. You can’t tell me that you didn’t see her.”
The mother said the person who hit her daughter should confess.
“I feel that people need to take accountability for their actions,” she said. “You don’t give a life, you shouldn’t take a life and if it was accidental, hey, you see her page up there (Facebook) Put it on there ‘I’m sorry’. You know, say something or someone from your family. Turn that person in. They have killed someone. Make them accountable. You took a life that was not doing anything. She was walking.”
Plain said losing her daughter has devasted her family. She said Breunkia was the baby on her side of the family and she had six other brothers and sisters on her dad’s side. In addition to that, she was extremely close with her cousins and part of a tight-knit family.
Not only did the incident rid Plain of her only child, but it took the family’s dream of seeing someone close to them accomplish what she set out to do.
“My heart is hurting,” Plain said. “My child’s career has been cut short. My child was getting ready to pursue something to help others. Do your family a favor get this grief off you, go turn yourself in and just deal with whatever happens. I’m not angry. I’m not mad, but I’m hurt. Yes, you took something that I loved dearly, that I will never see again until later on in life on judgment day. You have hurt me and you have hurt my family very dearly. You have taken away our dream. Every family has one person that wants to be something. You have taken away my family lawyer.”
RIP. Most likely hit by an impaired driver or an illegal alien.