4-year-old boy killed while crossing Wichita street was a refugee who loved to sing

Parents of the 4-year-old African refugee who was killed in a hit-and-run wreck in downtown Wichita want him to be remembered as a boy who loved to sing and praise God.

Hazadi Asiimwe, an immigrant refugee from Uganda, died Monday. He was 23 days shy of his fifth birthday.

“They are in a very hard situation, a very hard moment,” said Seth Kaburungu, the family’s pastor. “They just don’t know how to react, they don’t know what to say. They are very thankful to those who are reaching out and wanting to help. Right now, they are overwhelmed with the situation, because one dream is killed, it’s just gone.”

A GoFundMe has been established to raise funds for Hazadi’s funeral, estimated to cost about $7,000. It is scheduled for Saturday.

Seth served as an interpreter for Hazadi’s parents, mother Suzana Nyiramaronko and father Samson Niyonzima, during a Tuesday interview.

“Singing and praising the lord would be something they want everybody to remember him for,” Suzana said, translated from Kirundi.

The family was particularly fond of photos showing Hazadi dressed in a white button-down shirt with a dapper gray-blue tie and vest. Those photos were taken the day before he died.

That Sunday, he sang with the children’s choir at Church of God Kingdom Missionary, 1156 N. Oliver. Video taken by the family shows young Hazadi waving his arms while singing a hymn. While most of the lyrics are in Kirundi, no translation is needed to hear “happy happy hallelujah.”

Seth, himself a refugee, said the church has helped the family transition to life in the United States, including finding jobs and starting to learn English.

“We do what we can, but we know that the only person who can soothe their heart or can comfort them is God,” Seth said.

Samson and Suzana are from the Congo, but fled civil war to go to Uganda, which they left about two years ago to come to America. Hazadi and his younger brother were born while the family was in Uganda.

Named after his hometown’s best soccer player, Hazadi also liked to watch sports, especially motorcycle racing.

“They wanted their children to have a good future,” Seth said. “They wanted their children to go to school, to be able to have a good job to provide for the family. Being a refugee wasn’t an easy life. They know the hard life. They know what life is about. And they wanted the children not to experience what they have experienced as refugees.”

“Because of the situation with refugees, you can’t fulfill your dreams out there. But since they got the opportunity in the United States, they were ready to be able to use every bit of opportunity they get to make sure their children have a bright future.”

Samson said Hazadi dreamed of graduating from school, even though he was too young to start classes.

“He would turn on TV and put on the ABC songs to help him out for getting ready,” Samson said. “He wanted to graduate school so he could be able to take care of the family.”

Hazadi wanted to be a police officer when he grew up.

“It is because he hears that they protect people, that if somebody does a bad thing, they catch shame, and they put him away,” Samson said. “So he wanted to keep bad people away from the society.”

After Monday’s deadly wreck, Wichita police later found and arrested Marcus Eugene Downey, 36. He remained in the Sedgwick County jail Tuesday night.

The Wichita Police Department officers at the crash were helpful, especially with finding a way to communicate through the language barrier and finding the driver, Suzana said.

“They did a very outstanding job,” she said.

Police reports show the hit-and-run was reported at 9:55 a.m. at the intersection of Waterman and Washington, about two blocks north of the Kellogg exit.

Suzana recounted to The Eagle what happened on Monday.

The mom and her two sons, Hazadi and 2-year-old Japhet, left the house that morning. They took a bus to downtown to go pay their rent. They got off at their bus stop, pushed the button for the stoplight and waited to cross the street until they saw the “go” sign.

Suzana was pushing Japhet in a stroller while Hazadi walked by her side in the crosswalk.

Then they saw an oncoming vehicle, headed toward all three of them.

“He panicked, tried to run away,” Suzana said of Hazadi. “It was coming toward them, so when he saw that car coming, it was like ‘he’s going to get us,’ so he tried to run away, but it was too late.”

Hazadi was hit by the vehicle, apparently as the driver attempted to steer away from a collision.

Suzana left the stroller and ran to her elder son.

The driver fled the scene. Another motorist stopped to help and called 911.

The child was taken away in an ambulance, his mother not allowed to ride with him. She was taken to the hospital in a separate vehicle. A couple minutes after arriving and speaking with medical workers, the doctors told her that her son had died.

The dad was at work in Arkansas City when the crash happened.

“When he took his lunch, his heart was not at ease,” Samson said. “He didn’t think to eat, even though he didn’t know anything that happened. So he started feeling something’s going on, even though he doesn’t know yet. A few minutes later, he received a call saying that his child just got in a huge accident and lost his life.”

Downey was charged Tuesday in Sedgwick County District Court with one felony, failure to stop at an accident resulting in death, and misdemeanor driving while suspended. A public defender will be appointed to represent him.

No additional charges will be filed in the case, said Dan Dillon, a spokesman for District Attorney Marc Bennett.

Downey’s bond was set at $75,000. The judge added a stipulation that if released, Downey is barred from driving unless if he is licensed and insured. Court records show three previous cases of traffic-related charges, including driving while a habitual violator and driving while suspended.

Asked what punishment, if convicted, the parents would like to see, they said through their interpreter that “right now it is a very hard question, because they are trying to put together what happened. It just don’t make any sense to them.”

Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker of The Eagle

This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 10:03 PM.