Unlicensed Mercedes driver kills his passenger in crash with school bus, flees in taxi: NYPD
The mother of a woman killed when an unlicensed driver crashed his Mercedes-Benz into a school bus in Brooklyn is calling for justice after police said the driver fled the scene in a taxi, leaving her daughter to die in the front seat.
“He killed my baby,” charged Lakita Vance, whose daughter died in the crash last week. “He killed my baby and he left her.”
Tyree Epps, 32, was speeding south in a 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 on Van Sinderen Ave. in Brownsville when police say he sped through a stop sign at Blake Ave. at about 1 p.m. Thursday.
He plowed into the rear driver’s side of an eastbound 2019 Blue Bird school bus, sending it careening into a parked box truck, according to police.
After the crash, Epps hopped in a taxi and took off, leaving his 26-year-old passenger, Imani Vance, in the front seat suffering severe head trauma, cops said.
Medics rushed her to Brookdale University Hospital, but she couldn’t be saved. The 57-year-old woman driving the school bus was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
Police later arrested Epps, who lives in East New York. He is being charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, leaving the scene of a fatal crash and driving without a license.
“In my heart of all hearts, I feel like once he crashed and he realized Imani had no sign of life he ran,” said Vance’s cousin, Latasha Vance. “I don’t think he ran because he got into the accident. I think he ran because he realized that accident killed Imani.”
Vance’s desolate family believes she had just met Epps, who offered her a ride to her best friend’s apartment. The victim’s family had never heard of him before the crash.
“I’m just devastated,” said Lakita Vance. “Imani was a beautiful person. She brightened up every room she walked in.”
Now the family is grappling with funeral arrangements for the young woman.
“We gonna end up having to bury a 26-year-old person that was full of life,” said Latasha Vance. “Everybody loved her, everybody. She got along with people and she ended up with the wrong end of the deal, just trying to get to know people.”
Epps was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Friday and ordered held without bail.
“He needs to be in jail,” Vance’s mother said of Epps. “He needs to be charged with the highest crime that he could be charged with.”
The devastated mother described Vance as “the love of my life.”
“That’s my oldest daughter — my first born,” she said. “My life is never gonna be the same. I just hope my heart is not gonna stop, because of the stress.”
Vance had recently returned to the city in November after a move to Virginia.
“That’s too far away, so she came back home,” said the mom. “Her death was tragic. It broke our family.”
Vance had dreams of enrolling in nursing school as she worked three jobs — in a hospital, at a Starbucks and as a security officer.
“Imani was the light of the family,” said Latasha Vance. “She was the party. She was the person that when you’re down, she makes you happy.”
