Woman, sister who fatally hit man harassed victim's daughter on social media: Charges
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Two sisters have been charged after a man was fatally hit by a vehicle while riding a motorized scooter in Minneapolis at the end of July.
The driver of the vehicle, Victoria Nevada Yorahee, 25, of Mesa, Arizona, was charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide while operating a vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and one count of criminal vehicular homicide after causing the collision and leaving the scene.
Victoria Yorahee's sister, Tianna Renee Yorahee, 18, of Minneapolis, was charged with aiding an offender to avoid arrest.
READ MORE: Family of Minneapolis man looks for answers in deadly hit-and-run
What happened?
According to the charges, on July 29 at around 9:30 p.m., Minneapolis officers responded to reports of a hit-and-run, where a man was hit by an SUV while riding a scooter near the intersection of Fremont Avenue North and 22nd Avenue North.
At the scene, officers found the man, who the family identified to FOX 9 as Andre Stewart, lying in the road with several severe injuries. Stewart was taken to the hospital, where he died a few days later, court documents said.
Also at the scene, officers found an SUV with no license plates and significant damage about a half a block away from the intersection, the charges said. The SUV was resting on top of a motorized scooter which was damaged and reportedly stuck under the SUV.
Investigators determined the driver of the SUV was Victoria Yorahee, and her sister, Tianna Yorahee, was the passenger in the SUV at the time of the collision. There was a third passenger in the SUV that authorities have not identified.
Victoria Yorahee was allegedly driving south on Fremont Avenue at a high rate of speed as Stewart entered the intersection on a scooter, he was struck by the SUV, court documents said.
According to the charges, witnesses reportedly saw three women leave the SUV, and saw Victoria Yorahee remove the rear license plate and flee. They also saw the two passengers dump some liquor bottles into bushes nearby. The witnesses tried to chase the women from the SUV, but they fled the scene.
Victoria Yorahee left her cell phone in the car, and officers found paperwork belonging to her. The SUV was also registered in her name, out of Arizona.
How fast was the SUV going?
According to the complaint, investigators were able to get a search warrant for the SUV's Crash Data Retrieval system, which said that Victoria Yorahee was driving between 78-83 mph at the time of the crash.
Cell phone search warrant
A search warrant was also obtained for Victoria's Yorahee cell phone, and a text conversation was found between the two sisters on the same day of the crash. Tianna Yorahee texted her sister saying she wanted to "hit the wood," a slang term for smoking marijuana, according to the charges.
Court documents say investigators also found a video, taken around 8:55 p.m., from the driver's seat of the SUV pointing out the front windshield.
Victim's daughter contacted
According to the charges, Stewart's daughter reached out to law enforcement a few weeks after the crash saying that Victoria Yorahee was the driver that hit Stewart, and that the sisters had fled to Las Vegas.
According to the daughter, Victoria Yorahee allegedly had been harassing her on social media and by phone, saying she "will never get caught and that she would get pregnant to avoid going to prison," court documents said.
The daughter then gave investigators contact information from a witness in Las Vegas who had reportedly talked to the two sisters.
The charges say that the witness stated he was introduced to Victoria and Tianna Yorahee by a "business partner" as the sister wanted help with their situation. The three met at a restaurant in Las Vegas, where Victoria Yorahee allegedly admitted to driving drunk, hitting a man, fleeing the scene and buying a ticket to Las Vegas with her sister.
Then Victoria Yorahee reportedly showed the witness social media posts and a video from Stewart's family about the incident, and bragged about "how she reported the post and got it taken down," court documents state.
The witness said he told Victoria Yorahee to call the police, as he was bothered by the admissions and lack of remorse, but she refused. The witness then contacted Stewart's family on Facebook.
What we don't know
The current whereabouts of the two sisters is unknown, so warrants have been issued for their arrests.
Victim's family looking for justice, responds to charges
Stewart's family is looking for justice for their lost loved one, and feel somewhat relieved after charges have been filed against the sisters.
"Relieved. Happy that she [Victoria Yorahee] won't have to do this to nobody else's family," said Leah Anderson, Stewart's sister, said about the recent charges. "We felt like if they were aware enough to take off their license plates and ditched the liquor, they knew exactly what they were doing."
"Life is too short, and nobody's family should go through what we've been going through for the last 30 days or so," Anderson finished.