Two families are honoring loved ones they lost one year ago in a crash on Schoenherr Road in Warren, Michigan.
On Tuesday, Sept. 30, dozens of balloons and pictures of the two victims lined the street as friends and family remembered 34-year-old Cedric Hayden Jr. and 33-year-old DeJuan Pettis, who many people knew as brothers, husbands and fathers.
“I want justice for my son,” said Pettis’s mother, Charisse Brown.
“They (Hayden’s kids) miss they’re daddy. They miss him so much,” said Hayden’s father, Cedric Hayden Sr.
The two men were killed in a crash involving a police cruiser on Sept. 30, 2024. Since then, a police officer has been charged with two counts of manslaughter with a motor vehicle, one count of a moving violation causing serious impairment of a body function and one count of willful neglect.
The Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office alleged that Burke was driving “at a high rate of speed without his emergency lights or siren” when the collision happened.
Attorney James Harrington with Figer Law was there to support the group as he reassured the crowd that he would fight for their loved ones’ justice.
“It’s so unfortunate and it’s so sad how this happened, and it was so preventable, and in the culture, the way this police department operates, this can’t ever happen. This can’t ever happen again,” said Harrington.
Harrington says they are still gathering evidence for this civil case. He’s confident this case will be tried in front of a jury.