A Calgary family is searching for answers after their 22-year-old daughter was struck in a collision and killed a year ago.
Cindy Kumi was born in a refugee camp in Kenya, her parents fleeing the horrors of war in South Sudan. The family came to Calgary in 2003 to give their children a safer future. Instead, they’re grieving Cindy’s death.
“It’s very painful as a family and we are still going through a lot. I need somebody to tell me what happened,” Cindy’s mother Jennifer Zekia said.
READ MORE: Woman struck and killed by vehicle on Memorial Drive
On Aug. 25, 2018, Cindy died after being hit by a car on Memorial Drive near the Zoo CTrain station. The 22-year-old woman was struck by a vehicle that was travelling east on Memorial Drive west of Deerfoot Trail.
According to friends, Cindy arrived at a bar on Macleod Trail that night with a woman they all knew and two men they didn’t.
Tara Revoy said she was having a fun night out with her friend Cindy. Revoy said that she could tell that Cindy was intoxicated.
“I had asked her if she wanted a ride. She said, ‘No I’m going to go with the people that brought me,'” Revoy said.
After that, all that is known to Cindy’s family is that she wound up on Memorial Drive near the Zoo.
“I feel guilty for not making her come with me. It’s hard to get over knowing that someone you were with and you have pictures with that night and who you were talking to and hugging and dancing with is just gone in one instant,” Revoy said from Cindy’s parents home on Saturday.
“Cindy’s death was an impact on all of us. Everybody loved Cindy. She was always happy and funny and caring. There’s not something that Cindy wouldn’t do for you if you asked.”
READ MORE: Teen pedestrian injured after being hit by vehicle in southwest Calgary
Police said neither speed nor alcohol were factors in the case and that the driver of the vehicle that struck Cindy remained at the scene.
A Calgary police spokesman told Global News that no charges have been laid because the driver could not have reasonably expected for there to be a pedestrian at that time and location.
Cindy’s family and friends are pleading with witnesses or anyone who was in the same vehicle as Cindy to come forward.
“Cindy is in a grave right now. They will never have peace until they come and talk to the family,” Zekia said.
“Why should somebody drop my daughter on the street and not care for her? Because I believe that as a driver, if somebody is in your vehicle, you take the full responsibility of the safety of that person,” Cindy’s father Robert Kumi said.
READ MORE: Police say alcohol ‘considered a factor’ after pedestrian killed in Calgary crash
Cindy’s uncle is urging the driver of the vehicle that Cindy was in to reach out to his family.
“Friends could not pick Cindy from a safe place to be dropped in an unsafe place. Somehow they are morally responsible if not criminally responsible they could be morally responsible,” Moses Bornyi said.
Cindy’s parents said she was a smart and responsible young woman who dreamed of becoming a lawyer.
Now they struggle with the emptiness left behind after losing their only daughter with so many questions adding to their pain.
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