The mother of a teenager killed by a drunken driver wants elected leaders to pull their support for Arlington’s commonwealth’s attorney.
The car 17-year-old Braylon Meade was hit by a 17-year-old drunken driver near the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Williamsburg Boulevard.
“Braylon was wonderful,” said his mother, Rose Kehoe. “He brought a lot of joy to our hearts for almost 18 years.”
The drunken driver – found to be under the influence of alcohol and THC – was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to a year of detention plus community service and probation.
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“We’re sending the message that it’s OK to drive under the influence of alcohol and THC, drive erratically, you’ll only get one year in detention, and to me that’s sending the wrong message,” Kehoe said.
She believes Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti should’ve charged the teen who killed her son as an adult.
“To be just kind of told, ‘Unfortunately, we can’t do much for you. He’s two months shy of turning 18, and because of this we have to worry about his developing brain,’” she said.
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Kehoe sent a letter to elected officials Monday, asking them not to support Dehghani-Tafti in the upcoming election.
“We pursued this case with diligence and asked for the maximum sentence available, three years,” the commonwealth’s attorney told News4. “After hearing both sides, the court gave 12 months with a period of probation.”
She also said she understands why Kehoe feels the way she does and that she doesn’t want to add to a grieving mother’s pain.
She said the only positive outcome to any of this would be to bring Braylon back.
Kehoe said she does take some comfort in the memory of her son and the outpourings of support from friends and the Arlington community since his death.
“The Arlington Community Foundation is going to offer three scholarships, and then there’s one to the University of Michigan, and they’re all for Arlington students,” she said.
Braylon’s classmates, teammates and friends are also planning events in coming weeks to raise money for those scholarships.
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