MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Stuffed animals and balloons lined a fence on Breedlove Street in North Memphis to remember 5-year-old Tarrence Davis.
“He always told me I’m a good momma, he always tell me he love me,” Erica Jenes, the child’s mother, said. “I just feel like she took my baby away.”
A mother is now planning a funeral after police said a woman slammed into Tarrence with her car as he was running across the street.
“Right here is where the car hit him, and right here and it dragged him on down,” a witness told WREG.
Markings on the ground showed where Tarrence lost a shoe and eventually ended up at the end of the block.
“He ain’t have no business being outside, but you know kids sometimes try to sneak off,” Jenes explained.
Jenes said her son ran out of the house behind his brother when the car hit him last week.
After days of fighting for his life in the hospital, Tarrence died on Friday.
“My son is gone. You know? And if you just think about it, people in this city know cars come down here speeding — they speeding now — but if they see a child in the street they’ll swerve over,” Jenes said. “She didn’t do none of that.”
Police said the 48-year-old driver only saw a flash and heard a thud.
Neighbors said the driver stayed on the scene until police arrived.
The driver was cited for not having proof of insurance but faces no criminal charges.
“I just want her to do some — some time or something because my son is gone,” Jenes said.
If nothing else, people who live in the North Memphis neighborhood want city officials to install speed bumps to slow cars down.
A wake for Tarrence Davis will be Friday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. at Coleman Chapel.
The funeral is Saturday at 11 a.m. at 1096 Danny Thomas.
