Family Of Father Killed In Riverside Hit-And-Run Receives Ghost Bike
MORENO VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — The family of a 27-year-old father killed in a hit-and-run accident was presented the ghost bike Tuesday from a temporary memorial dedicated to him.
D'Andre Sutherland died last month of cardiac arrest, three days after he was struck while riding his bicycle near the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and Beechwood Place in Riverside, police said.
The bike was presented by the Inland Empire Biking Alliance to Sutherland's mother, Mary Campbell, who addressed the driver at her home in the 15600 block of Lasselle Street.
"You owe me no explanation of why you stole my son from me. You have a higher calling on you," Campbell said. "I do know that everybody, whether you're good or whether you're bad, everybody has a conscience."
Campbell was joined by Sutherland's partner, Antoinette Gonzales, and their 5-year-old son.
"My kids are missing their father. My mother-in-law is missing her son. ... I'm missing my husband. I'm frustrated. My heart, it's empty," Gonzales said.
The ghost bike, an all-white bicycle symbolizing a deadly accident, was located at his memorial before being given to the family.
Sutherland's mother saw it Tuesday for the first time and wrote on its handlebar in black ink what her son used to affectionately call her: "Mommyo."
"[I] Just didn't think I would be able to write on it. Never went to see it when it was out there on Magnolia. Didn't want to see it," she said.
Police continue to search for the driver, who witnesses say was in a late-model beige or silver four-door SUV. Authorities believe the vehicle would have sustained significant damage to the front end and windshield.
Anyone with information regarding this accident was asked to call Riverside police traffic detective F. Soria at (951) 826-8720.
"He's resting; he's sleeping. We need this other chapter in our lives to be closed," Gonzales said.
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