Grieving mother sends message of support to driver charged in fatal DUI crash in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The 23-year-old woman charged in a fatal crash that killed a 19-year-old Louisville girl appeared in court Saturday for arraignment.

Dasharay Ben'e is charged with vehicular homicide under the influence, wanton endangerment, criminal mischief, failure to have insurance and a DUI. A judge set her bond at $10,000.

Police said a toxicology report revealed that Ben'e's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was 0.168, twice the legal limit.

Jefferson County Coroner's Office identified the deceased victim Friday as 19-year-old Ayanna Willbanks.

According to police, Ben'e lost control of her car while driving down Logan Street around 4:53 p.m. Thursday.

She rammed into the back of the Local Food Hub building, killing Willbanks on impact.

Ben'e and the backseat passenger were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Willbanks' stepmother Sherry Johnson said the person riding in the backseat was Willbanks' biological sister.

Johnson raised Willbanks since she was an infant. She called her daughter "Yanni."

"At first I was angry. I was mad and upset," Johnson said. "She called me every day."

Hearing about a conversation that her daughter had with one of her other friends a few days before is one of the few things that have given Johnson peace.

"They discussed if anything was to happen to them, this is how I want my funeral to go. So, parts of me believe Yanni knew something that we didn’t know or she felt something," Johnson said.

Johnson arrived at the crash scene after someone called her on Facebook telling her that her daughter was involved in a crash. Willbanks said Ben'e and her daughter were friends, and they worked in a hair salon together.

Johnson said she wants Ben'e to know she loves and supports her.

"I love her, and I'm not going to give up on her. I'm gonna be at court," Johnson said. "Whatever happens if she gets time. I'm gonna support her because she made a mistake."

Ben'e's next court date is scheduled for May 26. Johnson said she wants other young people to know drinking and driving is never OK.

"Thursday it was Ayanna. Saturday it could be somebody else," she said.

Grieving mother Theresa Martinez shares Johnson's pain. She, too, lost her daughter after a drunk driver was driving on the wrong side of the road and crashed.

"I wake up thinking, 'I wonder who my daughter would be today,'" Martinez said.

Her daughter Ashley died on impact 14 years ago, suffering a severed spine.

"The drunk driver sustained a broken leg," Martinez said. "Ninety-nine percent the time the drunk driver will be the one who survived the crash."

One mom's pain is now another mom's pain, too

"To me, it's heartbreaking because another family feels the heartache that I feel every single day," Johnson. "I think that they're selfish when they get behind the wheel. Drunk driving is 100% preventable. No parent should ever have to bury their child to a crime that is 100% preventable."