‘Part of me is gone’

Family pleads for street racing suspect to come forward

Pain. The family of Margaret Chance wants to know how to deal with the pain of her death after she unwittingly turned into the path of what Miramar police are calling a high-speed street race.

The explosive collision happened about 7 p.m. Jan. 28 as Chance, 61, of Miramar, was leaving work at her son’s shipping warehouse.

She was driving a white Hyundai SUV north approaching the 2100 block of South State Road 7 and waited to make a left turn onto Southwest 21st Street.

Surveillance video showed several southbound vehicles had passed by before she made the turn westbound.

But then, a black Cadillac CTS struck the passenger side of her SUV and a second speeding car slowed down enough to make a U-turn before speeding away from the crash scene, the video showed.

“Be safe on the road. It’s not wort the rush. It’s not worth the thrill ... Someone’s life was taken.”

Keefa Lovelace, granddaughter of Margaret Chance

People working in the area reported hearing an “explosion, that shook the walls,” of the buildings they were in, police said.

The video also showed a man and woman walking north along a side walk on the east side of State Road 7, and then running across the street to help the crash victims.

Miramar police want to speak to the two good Samaritans and the driver of the other dark-colored car that sped away.

Detectives have not named or charged the 58-year-old Hollywood man who was driving the Cadillac because the investigation was ongoing, but officer Jose Rosales said the cars were speeding.

“The vehicles were going about 80 mph,” he said at a news

conference Thursday, where 10 family members showed up to plead for help in identifying the other driver and two pedestrian witnesses.

“I don’t know how I’m going to survive without her,” said her sobbing sister Annette Chance. “She’s a part of me and a part of me is gone.”

Keefa Lovelace said she almost caught a ride home with her grandmother that night but changed her mind at the last minute. She was the last person to talk to Chance about five minutes before the deadly collision.

“Be safe on the road. It’s not wort the rush. It’s not worth the thrill you get from drag racing,” said Lovelace, at the news conference. “Someone’s life was taken.”

Investigators are asking anyone with information on the two witnesses, the other driver, or the whereabouts of the unknown vehicle to contact Broward Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 954-493-8477, or online at browardcrimestoppers.org.

MIKE STOCKER/SUN SENTINEL Margaret Chance’s family, led by her granddaughter, Keefa Lovelace, speaks out after Chance was killed in a car crash.

MIRAMAR POLICE DEPARTMENT/COURTESY Chance’s vehicle was struck by a Cadillac CTS near the 2100 block of South State Road 7. The Cadillac’s driver and an unknown vehicle were street racing.

MIRAMAR POLICE/COURTESY Margaret Chance was killed Jan. 28 when her vehicle was struck by a Cadillac CTS near the 2100 block of South State Road 7.