Girl, 4, killed when car crashes into tree in Miramar
As Ja’nariah Govan celebrated her fourth birthday with a “Hello Kitty” cake in May, relatives could never have imagined goodbye would come so soon.
The young girl was killed in a crash that happened on the afternoon of May 31 when the car she rode in hit a curb on the roadway and struck a tree in front of a residence along the 6600 block of Miramar Parkway in Miramar.
“She was a very sweet little girl. She was only here for four years. [There are] only but sweet things to tell about this girl,” said her aunt, Angel Tillman, on Saturday.
The single-car crash also injured the child’s mother, Elantria Lane, 23, and another occupant, Diamond Thomas, police said.
Both were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital, where Lane stayed through Friday and Thomas remained on Saturday, relatives said.
Ja’nariah was pronounced dead at the hospital, police spokeswoman Tania Rues said. The crash remains under investigation.
Ja’nariah’s father, Jenard Govan, 24, was driving the car east on Miramar Parkway when the crash happened. They were driving Thomas to work in Hallandale Beach at the time.
On Saturday, Govan was stricken with grief. “I love my little girl,” he said, without saying much more. “This is my first born.”
Lane said she was “not in a good state of mind.”
Three
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on May 9, Ja’nariah had a birthday party with a Hello Kitty-themed cake and pinata and a bounce house, said Letia Johnson, Lane’s cousin. She wore a princess crown and a sunny yellow shirt with the word “Love” on it.
“Everyone had a chance to enjoy her, and not know she would pass on like this,” Tillman said. “It was a nice memory of her.”
Tillman said she would remember her niece’s gap-toothed smile, her pranks and the forts she would build out of bedsheets. Ja’nariah was an older sister to two brothers, Jenard Jr. and Javon.
The family has not yet made funeral arrangements, as they are struggling to make ends meet, Johnson said.
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