MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A deadly double hit-and-run in Memphis the day after Christmas remains unsolved.
Willie Lee Sanders, 50, is one of the victims, killed all because he was trying to be a good guy and help someone in trouble.
Loved ones held a vigil Friday at the spot where Sanders and his friend lost their lives. They were on Mitchell Road near Redbud Dec. 26. It was about 7 p.m.
The Memphis Police report says when they stopped to help a stranded motorist they were hit by a car and knocked into the turn lane. As they tried to get up, they were run over by a second car.
Neither car stopped. And now, a confused and heartbroken family needs answers.
“The other people continued to run over these bodies,” Sanders sister Debra Marbury told WMC Action News 5. “And even though it had gotten dark, they know they had to have hit something. Just report that. I mean, we just need somebody to come forward so we can understand what really happened.”
Sanders leaves behind two children, nine grandchildren and many other relatives who cannot believe the drivers who hit them just kept going.“I want them punished,” said Sanders nephew Ernest Brooks. “Because what you did was wrong. You took a father. You took a brother. You took a grandfather. You took an uncle. And then you took a good Samaritan out of the community. Something needs to be done.”
Sanders’ family would like the City of Memphis to install better lighting along that stretch of Mitchell Road. They also say they didn’t notice any MPD blue light cameras in the area.
Willie Sanders’ Celebration of Life is Saturday, Jan. 9 at 10 a.m. at Christian Directors Funeral Incorporated at 3626 New Getwell Road. His interment follows at Easthaven Cemetery on Malone Road.