Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
FAMILY KEEPS VIGIL AS LAKE SEARCH GOES ON
Woman still missing after crash that killed two
Distraught relatives roamed the perimeter of a lake Tuesday morning calling out for “Lucy,” hollering for “LuLu” — hoping against hope for the survival of their 26-year-old daughter and cousin, unseen since the car she was riding in plummeted below the water’s surface a day earlier.
A helicopter circled. By early afternoon, Broward sheriff’s deputies had returned with a boat to the scene near Northwest 29th Avenue and 14th Street in unincorporated Broward County.
Lucienne Pierre is believed to be dead. Her body was not found Tuesday and rescue divers wrapped up their efforts for the day a little before 6 p.m.
Pierre’s sister, Jasmine Davis, 23, of Sunrise, was also killed in the crash, as was Jarvis Mosley, 21, of Plantation, authorities said. The 21-year-old driver, Keiontae Myers, survived.
“They were both vibrant young ladies, full of life,” Marcia Derby-Davis, mother of Pierre and stepmother to Davis, said at the scene, weeping relatives at her side. “We know that there are no mistakes in life. God is in control. He will carry us through this.”
The inseparable young women were set to start nursing school together Jan. 9, a cousin, Jessica Thompson, 26, said. Both were mothers to young daughters and had just enjoyed a family Christmas dinner at their grandmother’s home before they went out, Thompson said.
“You want to be upset, but it’s just what young adults do, go out and
party,” Thompson said. “You just expect everyone to come back home.”
The women and Mosley were passengers in a burgundy Jaguar that zoomed through a stop sign and two fences about 4:45 a.m. Monday and landed in the small lake. Davis’ body was still in the car when rescuers towed it out of the dark lake and dense vegetation hours later.
Myers, the driver, managed to swim toward shore, where bystanders threw him a garden hose and pulled him in. The Deerfield Beach man was taken to a hospital.
Reava Felix, 25, Pierre’s godsister and best friend since childhood, said Pierre had met Myers fairly recently at a club. They weren’t dating and Pierre didn’t know Mosley very well either, Felix said.
Myers had a valid driver’s license at the time of the crash, records show. He had a new one issued Aug. 4, one week after he pleaded no contest in Broward County court to a misdemeanor charge of driving without a valid license. He was sentenced July 28 to 85 days in jail with credit for 60 days, court records show.
Myers is on probation for burglary, robbery, grand theft and fraudulent use of a credit card convictions from January 2014. His probation was scheduled to end Aug. 19, 2021, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Thompson, the cousin, said she is trying to suppress ill will toward Myers, even though witnesses told her he was driving more than 100 mph at the time of the crash.
“It was a reckless decision where everyone in the car was affected,” she said. “He has to live with what he did. That’s the worst punishment in the world.”