A child’s bike ride to a friend’s house ended in a fatal collision that has shaken a north Charlotte neighborhood and led to criminal charges against a 23-year-old driver.
CHARLOTTE, NC – An 8-year-old girl riding her bicycle to a sleepover Saturday evening was struck and killed in a residential neighborhood, according to reports and charging documents that allege the driver was speeding at the time of the crash and initially left the scene.
Nyomi Summers was riding in a north Charlotte neighborhood when she was hit by a 2006 Chrysler 3000 sedan driven by Khaliyal Burney, 23, authorities said. The child was transported to a nearby hospital, where she later died.
Burney was taken into custody and charged with one count of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. He also faces charges of driving while license revoked, no liability insurance, failure to register, and fictitious registration, according to court records.
Allegations of speeding and crash details
Charging documents allege Burney was “unlawfully and willingly” driving დაახლოებით 35 mph in a 25 mph residential zone, and that the speeding violation “was the proximate cause of death.” Officers responding to the scene found Summers in the roadway alongside her damaged bicycle.
Surveillance footage from a nearby home allegedly shows the Chrysler’s driver revving the engine multiple times before accelerating just prior to the collision, according to local reports.
Neighbors described hearing the crash from inside their homes and witnessing the aftermath. “And I heard it when he hit her,” one neighbor told WCNC. “I heard the bump of a body. He just went down the street … he didn’t even put on no brakes.”
Community reaction and witness accounts
Residents said the area is known for children playing and riding bikes, and that drivers are expected to move slowly through the neighborhood.
“The way this neighborhood is, the way the streets are made, you shouldn’t be driving all fast like that down here,” another neighbor told WCNC.
Witnesses also described the moments leading up to the collision. “The other two kids got out the street. Nyomi wasn’t quick enough with her little legs,” a woman told WSOC. “She had eyes on her. She wasn’t unattended. She did not run in front of no car. That car hit her like she was an animal. It kept going until he probably got a phone call saying he hit that baby.”
Mae Lynn, another neighbor, said she heard the sequence of events unfold. “I heard him when he took off,” she told Spectrum News. “I heard him when he hit her body. I heard him when he went down, yielded and kept on going. Then, they were out here calling him and telling him he had hit a baby in the street.”
Lynn also claimed the driver was frequently warned about speeding in the area. “Someone hollers at him every day to slow down, because he comes through here like that all the time,” she said.
Investigators later said Burney returned to the scene after the crash and was not impaired at the time. In the days since, a memorial has grown near the roadway where Summers was struck, as neighbors remember a child they say was well known in the community.
“She didn’t have to lose her life because of a reckless driver,” one person said. “That could have been anybody.”
Burney was released after posting $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on June 5, according to court records.
