Fukuyo Koketsu Bryant Obituary, Death; – A custody exchange in North Carolina turned tragic when a child’s grandmother was reportedly struck and killed by her father.
Bradford Brown, 35, was taken into custody on Friday in Wake County, North Carolina, facing a charge of felony voluntary manslaughter, as indicated in court documents. During his appearance at the Wake County Justice Center on Monday, Brown expressed remorse for his actions, according to local news sources CBS17 and WRAL.
Wake County Assistant District Attorney Doug Faucette presented a sequence of events to Judge Mark Stevens on Monday, stating that Brown hit his 6-year-old son’s maternal grandmother, 72-year-old Fukuyo Koketsu Bryant, with his vehicle following a dispute during the custody exchange.
Faucette claimed that the altercation began in the driveway of Bryant’s home in Apex around 10 p.m. on Friday, after Brown arrived to pick up his child without an appropriate car seat. Bryant reportedly attempted to reach into the car after the child was placed inside without the seat, leading Faucette to assert that Brown then “put his car in reverse, accelerating onto the victim.”
A search warrant reviewed by USA TODAY indicated that the rear passenger door struck Bryant as Brown reversed, causing her to fall to the ground, where she was subsequently run over by the vehicle’s tires. Following the incident, he allegedly took the child into the house before fleeing on foot, although he was apprehended shortly thereafter.
Bryant succumbed to her injuries at the location of the incident, as reported by WRAL. Brown and the child’s mother, Crystal Bryant, had been engaged in a protracted custody dispute prior to this event, according to local reports. In court, Bryant’s current custody attorney, C. Melody Davalos, noted, “There have been numerous instances where he was volatile in the past.”
Judge Stevens established a bond of $500,000 and mandated that Brown have no contact with his child, Crystal Bryant, or Harold Bryant, the victim’s husband. Brown was assigned a public defender and instructed to wear an ankle monitor for home confinement if he posts bail.
