Updated: Friday, 11 Nov 2011, 8:01 PM EST
Published : Friday, 11 Nov 2011, 8:01 PM EST
FAIRHAVEN, MASS. (WPRI) - A local family is outraged after police make a controversial decision following the death of their loved one.
The victrim, Katelyn Brienzo, 29, was hit by a car and killed earlier this week.
The family says authorities should have locked up the driver on hit and run charges, but didn't.
The accident happened on Sconticut Neck Road in Fairhaven.
The driver has been charged with motor vehicle homicide, but not hit and run.
Brienzo was walking across the street in a crosswalk when she was hit.
Brienzo's family is devastated.
"She's been the light of a lot of people's lives a lot. And I'm not saying that just because she was my daughter," says Karen Fortin, the victim's mother.
"She was such a great person. Kind, loving, thoughtful. When she came into a room she just lit it up. And our family has a hole that will never be replaced. She's gone and I think we're all broken," says Gina Fitzgerald, Brienzo's sister.
Police charged 35 year old Renee Andrews of Fairhaven, with motot vehicle homicide and negligent operation.
She's not charged with leaving the scene of an accident, even though she did leave the scene and didn't report the collision to police until later.
Brienzo's family tells Eyewitness News the missing charge adds insult to their devastating injury.
"When you hit a squirrel do you feel that bump bump? If you hit a stick you feel it. You'd have to be either high, drunk, or something or not just paying attention or just a cold hearted person to just floor it. Take off. He heard her floor it," says Joel Brienzo, the victim's brother.
Brienzo's family wants investigators to review the decision and bring an additional charge of leaving the scene of an accident.
A spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney, Sam Sutter, says so far the facts don't show that the driver tried to avoid the police, but the investigation into the accident is ongoing.
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