"I already knew what it was for:" accused hit and run driver says

FORT WAYNE, Ind. ---Without apparently a thought as to the condition of the people in the pick up truck, the driver and occupants of a black Saturn emerged after the crash at South Lafayette Street and McKinnie Avenue.

It was Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021,  very early in the morning.

The occupants in the 2007 Saturn Aura removed the rear license plate, quickly took out items from the front passenger area and fled on foot.

For years, the family of Samayah Barker, 17, waited for acknowledgment of their loved one’s death. 

Surveillance video from a nearby business showed proof it was a hit and run accident, that the Saturn was traveling east on McKinnie, ran a red light at Lafayette and struck the northbound Chevrolet Silverado, according to a probable cause affidavit penned by Sgt. Matt Wilson, assigned to the Fort Wayne Police Department’s homicide, but a former fatal traffic crash detective.

Friday, Kierra Lashay Chapman, 31, was taken into custody and charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a Level 4 felony, and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in bodily injury, three misdemeanor counts.

If convicted, a Level 4 felony carries a sentence of between two and 12 years with a fine of $10,000 in Indiana.

Today, Tuesday, she is scheduled to appear in front of Magistrate Samuel Keirns for her initial hearing.

Barker was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:29 a.m. Three other Silverado occupants sustained injuries including one who was diagnosed with a fractured clavicle (shoulder), a collapsed right lung and a concussion, court documents said. 

The coroner ruled that Barker died from blunt force injury.

Wilson didn’t let it go, but instead followed a painstaking investigation. DNA from the airbag deployed during the accident showed Chapman’s DNA on it, even though Chapman consistently denied being the driver.

Eyewitness accounts also describe someone of Chapman’s size and weight and clothing.

The item she returned to her Saturn to retrieve turned out to be her purse containing a couple of joints in it.

When asked what happened to the weed, she matter of factly stated she smoked it, during a police interview Friday.

“Why would I destroy it?” she asked. She tried to say she was the back seat passenger, but the information the police obtained showed otherwise, court documents said.

When she was asked if she checked on any of the juvenile crash victims pinned in the truck, her response was “No. I did not know who was in there.”

However she admitted that she was “scared” when she returned to her home and she didn’t smoke the dope right away.

She must have been scared on March 17 when a buccal swab was taken from Chapman by an officer with the Street Crimes Unit who showed up at her apartment.

In fact, when she was taken into custody on Friday, Chapman said “I already knew what it was for.” Then, “I wish I would have kissed my baby."

It all happened because she was arguing with her boyfriend and was distracted, she said.