'They Knew How to Cross That Street'

Mothers Mourn Boy, 7, and Teen Friend Killed in Pr. George's Traffic Accident

Natalie Whisonant was readying her 7-year-old son's school uniform when she heard a loud noise just after 9 p.m. Sunday on a major street nearby. Thinking two cars had collided, she initially paid little attention.

Then she heard her 19-year-old daughter, Shaqualla Thomas, scream. She dashed for Central Avenue, a major Prince George's County thoroughfare a stone's throw from her front door, and found her only son, Richard Young II, critically injured.

"I saw my baby lying on the side of the road," she said. "He was hit so hard it knocked his pants, his shoes and one of his socks off." Richard was pronounced dead at Children's National Medical Center shortly after midnight Monday. Also killed was a family friend, LaRentá Vondale McFarland, 19, of Cheverly.

Whisonant sat in the living room of her Mitchellville townhouse yesterday, greeting friends and family who came to offer condolences as she contemplated the moments before her son and McFarland were struck.

Richard often made the trip to the Kettering Plaza shopping center, where he had gone that night with Shaqualla and three teenage family friends to buy buffalo wings, pizza and sweets.

Richard had bought four honey buns with $5 he won at an Easter egg hunt the week before, Whisonant said. The buns were in a grocery cart being pushed by one of the teens. "When they found the cart, his honey buns were in there. He had bought two for himself and two to give away to friends," she said.

One of the teens always held Richard's hand, Whisonant said, and this time it was McFarland. "They always went over there, and they were always careful," Whisonant said. "The police said they weren't in the crosswalk, but they were near it, very close to it. They knew how to cross that street safely."

McFarland's mother, LaWander McFarland, said she last spoke to her son about 30 minutes before the crash when he called to tell her he was at a friend's house. "The next thing I heard was his friend calling to tell they got hit by a car," she said. "I went to the scene of the accident. His body was still there. . . . His spirit was already gone to heaven."

Maryland State Police said the accident occurred at 9:09 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of Central Avenue, just east of Campus Way North. Police said Richard and McFarland were crossing outside of a crosswalk when they were hit by a 2001 Jeep Cherokee driven by Umair Zaheer Akhtar, 19, of Upper Marlboro.

Motor vehicle records show that a driver of the same name was cited three times in seven months for violations in a vehicle of the same make and model. According to authorities, on Feb. 16, he was cited for driving with a window or windshield obstructed by sign material; on Nov. 11, he caused an accident and was given a $130 ticket; and on July 3, his driver's license was suspended for failing to appear in court to answer a citation for unsafe lane changing.

Sgt. John Green, a spokesman for the state police barracks in Forestville, said an investigation is underway. He said Akhtar, who remained at the scene of the accident, told troopers that he had not seen the pedestrians until it was too late. There were no skid marks on the road, so his speed could not be estimated, Green said.

No one answered the phone at the home of Akhtar or McFarland.