Victim’s family seeks harsher charge in fatal Miami Gardens crash: ‘No justice’

Family members of a man who was struck and killed by a Miami Gardens driver say late last year not enough is being done. The woman police say was behind the wheel has now been formally charged, but they want that charge upgraded.

Satrina Parks and members of her family sat in the courtroom Tuesday as the state formally filed a felony charge against Dayana Tissert. Her presence was waived for her arraignment, but prosecutors say she’s the driver responsible for hitting and killing Parks’ 29-year-old son, Lorenzo Cunningham.

Tissert, 25, is facing a charge of driving with a suspended license resulting in serious injury or death. Parks told Local 10 News that the charge gives the family “no justice here at all.”

“They’re charging her with driving without a license. We want her charged with homicide, you know,” Parks said.

The crash happened at 2 a.m. on Dec. 12 along Northwest 22nd Avenue near 152nd Street.

According to her arrest form, Tissert made a statement to police, which was redacted from the publicly-released report.

The report goes on to say the victim was on or beside the sidewalk and that Tissert failed to maintain control of the vehicle, with the brakes never applied during the incident.

Cunningham died at the scene, not far from where a small memorial now stands.

“The city of Miami Gardens Police Department, they’re covering up something,” Parks said.

Cunningham’s family is unhappy with the charge and the investigation. They say they heard from witnesses that Tissert initially left the scene before returning and say more should have been done to find out what happened.

“They said they talked to witnesses, but they only talked to one, which was a friend of hers,” Parks said. “We had three others that they needed to talk to, but they didn’t want to. There was one person who helped my son when he took his last breath. They didn’t talk to him at all.”

Tissert was out of jail on a $2,500 bond as of Tuesday, with a trial set for December.