KANSAS CITY (AP) — A woman has pleaded guilty to two felony counts for a 2020 fatal hit-and-run during a drag race on a Kansas City street.
Shabazz Frencher, 24, of Kansas City, recently pleaded guilty to drunken driving while intoxicated resulting in death and leaving the scene of a fatal crash. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors dropped charges of driving with a suspended license and involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecutors have said Frencher was drunk and behind the wheel of a friend’s car early the morning of June 19, 2020, when she raced another driver at speeds reaching nearly 100 mph. Frencher fatally hit 23-year-old Zahara Kathawalla as Kathawalla crossed the street, and did not stop or turn around to check on Kathawalla, police said.
Investigators said a friend of Frencher’s who was in the car when Kathawalla was hit yelled at Frencher to stop and repeatedly told Frencher to turn around so they could check on the person hit.
Instead, authorities said, Frencher, eventually parked the car in a neighborhood, ripped off its temporary tag and had her cousin and a friend pick her up at a gas station.
Frencher is set to be sentenced on June 10.