Hit and Run

June 27, 2012 permalink

According to police, on June 22 drunk driver Waverly Patrick hit Keyairra Price, a Yonkers New York high school student and cheerleader. Patrick fled the scene leaving Keyairra to die. And Waverly Patrick's profession? He is an employee of Leake & Watts children's home. In his after-hours job he works at the Abbott House in Irvington, a social services agency for abused, neglected and abandoned children.

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Bail denied for Yonkers man held in fatal hit-and-run

12:34 AM, Jun 26, 2012 | Written by, Will David

From left, Joyce Price and Mary Taylor, grandmothers of 16-year-old Keyairra Price, console each other outside court after Monday's arraignment.

/ Tania Savayan/The Journal News

A family photo of 16-year-old Keyairra Price and her father Keyan Price

YONKERS — The devastated relatives and friends of a 16-year-old Gorton High School cheerleader who was struck and killed in a drunken-driving, hit-and-run incident loudly applauded a judge who declined bail for the suspect on Monday.

“It is not just what he did, but it is how he did it,” Floyd Price Sr., 57, Keyairra Price’s grandfather, said about Waverly Patrick, 53. “He just left her there. To be so negligent and leave a child in the street.”

City Court Judge Michael Martinelli refused to grant bail for Patrick of 2 Hudson St., who said nothing during his brief arraignment. As he was led back to jail, some of Price’s family members and friends shouted “Thank you!” to the judge and yelled “Murderer!” and “You killed my baby!” at Patrick.

A family photo of 16-year-old Keyairra Price and her father Keyan Price

Patrick, an employee of the Leake & Watts residential treatment center in Yonkers, was represented by the Legal Aid Society of Westchester. About 10 of his relatives attended the hearing and declined to comment on the matter.

Outside the courthouse, Price’s mother, O’Meeka Johnson, 35, called Patrick a “monster.”

“He’s pathetic. He took a child’s life,” said Johnson, an employee of New York Sports Club.

Patrick is charged with leaving the scene of an accident with a death and driving while intoxicated, said Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for Distict Attorney Janet DiFiore.

He was convicted of driving while intoxicated eight years ago.

Price, who was going into her junior year at Gorton, played softball at the school and ran track.

“Support staff were available at the school today to help staff and students cope during this difficult time,” said Maura Lamoreaux, a schools spokeswoman.

Among Price’s favorite singers were Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler.

She taught herself to play the electric guitar and clarinet, her mother said.

She also loved art and had thoughts of becoming a beautician, she addded.

Her mother described the girl as a “very happy, bubbly child” who was “calm and patient” as well as a good student.

Keyan Price, the girl’s father, remembered his daughter as a “daddy’s girl.”

Keyan Price, an employee of Consolidated Edison, said he was with his daughter every Sunday.

“Sundays, we had dad and daughter day,” he said.

Keyairra Price was having a sleepover with her best friend, Angelique Cogdell, 15, another Gorton student, on Friday night.

They left Cogdell’s home about 9:25 p.m. to go to a store.

Michelle Palmer, 28, Cogdell’s sister, said she was on the porch when she heard what sounded like two cars crashing less than a block away.

“I heard Angelique screaming,” Palmer said.

Palmer rushed over and saw Price on the ground near 199 Valentine Lane.

She called police as she held the teen’s hand.

“She didn’t talk, but she did squeeze my hand,” Palmer said. “I said, ‘I’m here.’ ”

Police, firefighters and ambulance workers tried to save the girl’s life.

She was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where she died.

Patrick never stopped after running over the girl, police said.

At 2 a.m. Saturday, detectives located the car and Patrick.

Meredith Barber, a spokeswoman for Leake & Watts, confirmed that Patrick is an employee at the children’s home but declined to describe his duties.

She said he has been put on administrative leave.

“It is our policy that if someone is arrested that they are put on administrative leave until the case is adjudicated,” Barber said.

Patrick, who is single, holds a second job at the Abbott House in Irvington, a social services agency for abused, neglected and abandoned children.

Price also is survived by a half-sister, Diamond Price, 16; and stepbrother Sam Johnson, 16.

Price’s wake and funeral service will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Flynn Funeral Home, 325 S. Broadway.

She will be buried at 10 a.m. Friday in Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers.

Source: Journal News (Westchester, Rockland, Putnam)