Two people sentenced to prison in 2020 hit-and-run that killed cyclist
Ranisha Hackley and Hakeem Brown were sentenced to prison for a 2020 fatal hit-and-run that killed cyclist Will Lindsay.
Nearly five years after a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed cyclist Will Lindsay, the driver who struck him and then fled was sentenced to years in prison, along with an accomplice who authorities said helped her cover up the crime.
Ranisha Hackley, 34, will serve 7½ to 15 years in prison for striking and killing Lindsay with a Chevrolet Camaro in July 2020 as he rode in the shoulder of the road to meet friends, Assistant District Attorney Robert Wainright said at a news conference Tuesday.
Hakeem Brown, 36, Hackley’s boyfriend and the owner of the Camaro, will serve 1 to 2 years in prison for helping Hackley try to hide what happened, he said.
Hackley was found guilty of homicide by vehicle, accident involving death, and related crimes in December, and Brown was found guilty of tampering with evidence and conspiracy.
Hackley’s and Brown’s attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.
The convictions and prison sentences bring to a close a hit-and-run case that shattered the Lindsay family and shook the city’s cycling community. Lindsay, a scientist who worked at Wuxi Apptec, a biotech company, was a passionate cyclist, and his loss is still felt nearly five years later, his mother, Monica Lindsay, said Tuesday.
“He was the light of our family,” she said.
On the night of July 12, 2020, Lindsay had picked up his bike from his girlfriend’s house and was riding north on the 3800 block of Ridge Avenue to meet her and friends when he was struck. He died soon afterward at Temple University Hospital.
Using cell phone records and surveillance footage, investigators found the Camaro five days later at I-95 Collision Center in Northeast Philadelphia, Wainwright said. Lindsay’s DNA was found in clothing fibers on the car’s windshield, he said, and Hackley’s fingerprints were found inside the car.
Investigators traced the car to Brown and later learned that Hackley had been driving the car when she struck Lindsay, Wainwright said. Brown and Hackley were on the phone at the time of the fatal hit, he said, and the two stayed on the call for 30 minutes after Lindsay was hit.