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Husband Tracks Down Driver Suspected Of Killing Motorcyclist Wife In Hit And Run
Brenda “Pinky” Richardson was tossed 30 feet from her motorcycle following a fatal hit and run last week.
The grieving California husband of a woman who was killed in a fatal hit and run tracked her suspected killer down and tipped off authorities, leading to the man's arrest.
Tashiro Isa, 85, was arrested by authorities on Feb. 7 and charged with vehicular manslaughter and felony hit and run, according to the Corona Police Department.
The driver is suspected of mowing down motorcyclist Brenda Richardson at the intersection of River Road and Kalus Avenue in Corona shortly before 4 p.m. last Wednesday. The woman was struck by a Lexus and thrown roughly 30 feet from her motorcycle, KNBC reported. She was pronounced dead the following day.
However, in the days that passed, no arrests were made in connection to the woman’s death.
That didn’t sit well with Brenda Richardson’s husband.
“My wife hit his car, flew 30 feet over his car, landed on the ground and died," Rod Richardson told KTLA.
Richardson, a former police officer who was struggling to process the loss of his wife, decided to take the investigation into his own hands, the station reported.
"When you have your older kids falling on the ground crying cause they have no control," Richardson told KNBC. "Your younger kids waking you up in the middle of the night saying they missed her, it's a lot."
The ex-cop staked out the intersection where the crash occurred. A nearby apartment complex jumped out at him and he decided to have a look inside.
"Something was on my heart, tugging me, saying you need to go in," Richardson told KNBC.
Once he gained entry, Richardson spotted the white 2006 Lexus ES330, which police had been searching for. The vehicle’s passenger side had damage consistent with the fatal collision, KTLA reported.
“My heart dropped when I looked over," Richardson said.
He immediately tipped off authorities. Isa was interviewed and subsequently booked.
Brenda Richardson worked for decades for the Veteran’s Administration in Long Beach, according to KNBC.
"She's a Navy veteran,” Richardson told KTLA. “She's been with the V.A. for over 22 years. She has over 25 years of government service and she's touched people all over the country. We have eight kids together and they love her to death."
Richardson said he hunted down Isa to provide closure for his family and the couple’s children.
“I loved my wife with all my heart — the pain is horrible,” Richardson wrote on Facebook, the Press-Enterprise reported. “She was the person I was going to grow old with that helped with all the crazy ideas. … She was the feather people fell on for comfort."
