KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, woman was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison after killing a pedestrian while drag racing under the influence of alcohol in June 2020.
Shabazz Frencher, 24, pleaded guilty in March to two felonies in connection to the crash. Frencher received an eight year sentence for causing death as the result of driving while intoxicated, and a seven year sentence for leaving the scene of a crash involving death, according to court records.
The sentences run concurrently. The 55 days Frencher has spent in the Jackson County Detention Center will count towards time served.
The crash took place on June 21, 2020, near 43rd and Main Streets. The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department says two vehicles racing down Main Street, when 23-year-old Zahara Kathawalla was struck by a vehicle and died at the scene. Police estimate that the vehicle was going 67 mph at the time of the crash. Witnesses say Kathawalla attempted to run from the vehicles.
Kathawalla's parents have launched a scholarship distribution foundation in their daughter's name.
According to court documents, security camera footage captured Frencher fleeing the scene in the vehicle, before walking into a police facility and turning herself in the same day. She said she was driving a Ford Focus that did not belong to her.
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