After daughter’s hit-and-run death, spirit of giving kept alive
UCF senior London Harrell planned to graduate next year and hoped to work at a nonprofit, her mom says. But the 21-year-old’s future was cut short when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while walking on a grassy shoulder in a neighborhood near campus.
Now, her mother is hoping to keep her philanthropic spirit alive and praying for the family of the man charged in her death — “that something good will come out of their lives.”
Yousuf Hasan, the 25-year-old driver accused of striking Harrell, was taken into custody Friday on upgraded charges of vehicular homicide, DUI manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Upon leaving the jail Monday, Hasan told WFTV- Chan
nel 9, “I wish I could take everything back. And I hope they forgive me in their heart.”
“We wish we could take it all back, too. It’s an absolute nightmare,” Cobb told the Sentinel. “I feel very sorry for his family. No one wants to be involved or wants anybody involved in something like this.”
In the days after Harrell was hit on June 22 and left with catastrophic injuries, her family still clung to hope that she would recover.
But the day before a planned vigil to pray for her healing, Harrell died, leaving her parents and eight siblings little time to reflect or notify other loved ones before Friday’s service, which drew dozens to the lawn outside the UCF Library.
“It was a whirlwind week last week,” Cobb said. “We were praying for a miracle.”
Now, the family is raising money for Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, a mission London was passionate about during her time at UCF.
Harrell had raised more than $6,000 for the hospital and made regular visits to children there. She had taken a position on the executive board for UCF’s Knight-Thon, an annual fundraiser that raises money for the hospital, which she was expected to fill her senior year.
In her memory, Harrell’s family set up a fundraising page where people can continue to donate. More than $9,000 had come in by Wednesday morning. Rallying behind the phrase “live like London,” Harrell’s family hopes to inspire in others the same generosity she showed.
“Gosh, if more people could just live like her and just … have that attitude and that light about them, what a difference this world would be and how much more positive it would be,” Cobb said.
An adventurous woman, Harrell seemed to slide smoothly into life at UCF, Cobb said. She joined the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma and was quick to make close friendships. Going to college so far from home isn’t common among teens from her hometown of Columbia, S.C.
But Harrell “embraced it, and she’s one of the few others that did that haven’t already come back home,” Cobb said. “She really was about … making an adventure.”
A funeral service for Harrell is planned for Sunday in Columbia.