Dozens turn out Sunday to mourn Rahmere Tullis, a 3-year-old killed when he was reportedly struck by a fleeing criminal suspect
NEWARK -- About half an hour into a vigil to mourn the loss of little Rahmere Tullis, the gray rain clouds overhead broke, leaving the intersection where the toddler was killed Friday bathed in sunlight.
For attendees, who bowed their heads as clergy members led them in prayer and recited Scripture, it was a sign.
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"He was a gift, a gift," Latayna Wright, a family friend who helped care for the 3-year-old said. "He was an adorable child, he touched everyone's heart."
Wright was among a few dozen people at the corner of 7th Street and 15th Avenue Sunday, when well-wishers gathered to drop off flowers, balloons and stuffed animals at a makeshift memorial to Rahmere. Many also signed condolence placards affixed to a nearby house.
Rahmere was on the sidewalk with his mother Friday morning when, according to police, he was struck and killed by a Hyundai Sonata that hopped the curb. The driver, 22-year-old Troy Ruff of Newark, was wanted on an outstanding warrant and was fleeing from fugitive-unit officers who had tried to pull him over, authorities said. Ruff was being held on $500,000 bail.
Attendees at the vigil Sunday alternately expressed pain, frustration and anger before vowing to attend the next meeting of the city council Wednesday to demand concrete action.
Minister Thomas Ellis, president of the Enough of the Violence Project and organizer of Sunday's vigil, said he would spearhead an effort to have a stop sign placed at the intersection, or to place speed bumps on 15th Avenue, to calm the traffic coming to and from nearby Bergen Avenue.
"To get a stop sign, that's a project," Ellis said. "We're going to take this tragedy and turn it into something positive."
To underscore his belief that traffic-calming measures are needed, Ellis pointed up the street to where he said a drunk driver had slammed into several parked cars earlier Sunday. Ellis also noted that there was a preschool across the street from where Rahmere was killed.
Ellis and others, however, also called for greater caution on the part of the police during high-speed pursuits, while also acknowledging the need for law enforcement to protect the community from criminals.
"We need the police," Ellis said, "but we don't need over-aggressive policing."
Others attending the vigil took turns addressing the crowd, placing the blame for Friday's tragedy on permissive parents or on criminal suspects who endanger the community when they attempt to speed away from police.
"I want to tell these young men, it could be your little brother, your little sister," one woman said. "You got a charge, you stop, 'cause you might hit somebody."
Mostly, however, people merely grieved for the loss of a child. Those planning to attend Wednesday's council meeting also plan to ask that a vacant lot across the street from where Rahmere died be turned into a park named in his honor.
Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaulMilo2. FindNJ.com on Facebook