Exclusive: Wife Of Man Killed In Fort Lauderdale Crash Speaks Out
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - Shaulonda Isom remembers the last words she heard from her husband Mackendy Jules -- known as Zo -- just hours before he was killed last week.
"He told me that he loved me so much," she said, thoughtfully. "That he loved me so much."
Fort Lauderdale Police say Zo and another man -- Samuel Martindale were sitting in a parking lot along Broward Boulevard near SW 5th Street when Alyza Russell -- the driver of a Porsche jumped a curb, slammed into the men and killed them. Police say they believe Russell was under the influence of something at the time of the accident. Investigators are awaiting the results of blood tests, which could take up to two months to come in.
"I don't have the heart to hate her," she told CBS 4's Carey Codd. "My husband didn't have the heart to hate nobody so I don't have the heart to hate nobody but I'm angry at her."
Isom says she is angry for a specific reason.
"I'm angry at her because she didn't use her brains," Isom said. "She didn't use her mind. She didn't think."
Isom says Zo is the father of her two children and the one she expects to give birth to later this year. We're told Zo was in and out of homelessness but had recently gotten sober and found a job. At a memorial service Thursday night at a weekly feeding for the homeless put on by Hope South Florida, Isom spoke about the need to connect with those you love while you still can.
"Tomorrow isn't promised to nobody," she said.
But most of all, Isom spoke about her husband's love of life.
"When he wasn't smiling he was laughing," she said. "When he wasn't laughing, he was dancing. Before my husband got hit, my husband was laughing at Samuel. Samuel was dancing."
Isom is surrounded by people who care and people who loved her husband. But she isn't sure how she and her daughters will be able to move on.
"My kids they don't have a daddy any more," Isom said. "I don't have a husband any more. I don't have a love of my life anymore. I don't have a backbone any more."
After the crash, witnesses said Russell kept driving.
"I saw a car traveling at a high rate of speed and before I know it the car just swung a left. I don't know if they lost control, or were trying to make a left turn here on 5th, as fast as they were going there was no way possible they could make that turn," said Byron Campbell, a witness to the accident.
Police say Russell, along with two others who were with her, spoke to police. Russell was released. Investigators say charges are pending.
