JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Pictures and memories are all Carla Davis has left of her 18-year-old daughter, Shaniya Hampton, who was killed in a crash on Jacksonville’s Northside just over a year ago.
Davis said her daughter’s death could have been avoided. Now she lives life without her oldest child and only daughter.
“She was a leader,” Davis said. “She was like a second mom, beautiful, unique. She was just goofy when she used to dance around the house and used to sing around the house.”
Hampton’s life was cut short on Aug. 1, 2021, just two months after graduating from Oakleaf High School.
She was turning onto Harts Road on Jacksonville’s Northside early that morning when 31-year-old Christian Yuma hit her. The crash caused Hampton’s car to flip several times. She died at the scene.
Yuma pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in September and was sentenced October 21 to 10 years in prison for his role in the crash.
Davis was there in the courtroom when he was sentenced.
“I was like, ‘Thank God he is finally being accountable for the death of my child,’” Davis said. “[Yuma] is not walking the streets and cannot do it to anyone else.”
Davis said this whole process has been hard.
She said Yuma was speeding and that decision cost her daughter’s life.
“He did admit that he was responsible for Shaniya’s death and he wanted me to find it in my heart one day to forgive him,” Davis said of what happened during a recent court hearing.
Hampton was working and had just started pursuing a real estate license at the time of her death.
Davis said this did not have to happen.
“[Shaniya] had so much ahead of her,” Davis said. “She wanted to be an entrepreneur. She wanted to open up her own boutique. She wanted to travel the world. We will never be able to get the matching tattoos that we wanted. She will never be able to send me the ticket to [visit] Texas that she promised.”
In addition to a memorial set up at the site of the crash to honor Hampton’s life, there are some changes to make the road safer.
Speed bumps are in place to get drivers to slow down.