A Virginia family is calling for a hate crime investigation after they say they daughter was severely wounded in a hit-and-run incident involving a white driver.
Speaking through tears, parents Shaunta Wilkins and Kevin Boston described the injuries suffered by their daughter, Breeja Wilkins, 21, who was hit and dragged by another car on the highway last month. Photos posted to Instagram show portions of skin ripped from the young woman’s arms, chin, shoulder and hand.
“When they did the operation, they took the skin off of her of her thighs, both of her thighs to do her whole arm. Both her hands,” Shaunta Wilkins said during a meeting of the Prince George County NAACP chapter. “It’s just very, very frustrating … I don’t know what else to do.”
Virginia State Police have since charged suspect Robert T. McGee with one felony count of hit & run and misdemeanor assault — but also brought charges against his alleged victim, local station WUSA9 reported. Wilkins was given a traffic summons for being a pedestrian on the interstate and improper stopping on the interstate.
The May 20 incident unfolded while Wilkins was riding with a friend on I-95 when they had tire trouble and were forced to pull over. That’s when a white man in a pick-up truck pulled up and started yelling racial slurs at the young woman, who had taken off her shirt because it was so hot.
“He called her all kinds of names … names I’m not going to say,” Shaunta Wilkins said, later confirming that it was the N-word.
The two engaged in a heated verbal exchange as Breeja shouted back, prompting the man to get out of his truck. By this time, Breeja had moved near the front on the man’s vehicle. That’s when the suspect allegedly hopped back in his truck and floored it, dragging the 21-year-old as he sped off.
There’s apparently witness video of the incident, Shaunta Watkins said a Prince George County detective told her daughter.
“Something needs to be done. Something needs to be done quick,” she told the station.
The incident has since been handed to Virginia State Police and is still under investigation.
