SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The family of a beloved Pacific Beach restaurant worker says they are feeling some relief after an arrest was made nearly eight months after he was killed in a hit-and-run.
Qwente Bryant, an assistant general manager at Tavern at the Beach, was walking home from work early on a Saturday morning in February when he was struck and killed.
For Bryant's cousin, Joletta Peery, the months without an arrest were excruciating.
“You can’t get closure,” she added. “Someone out there is living their life, but your loved one is gone… Now, there is a little bit of relief, but we have so many questions.”
ABC 10News first reported on the case in February, after Bryant was found around 2 a.m. in the middle of Garnet Avenue, east of Gresham Street, following his shift at the restaurant.
In the days after his death, a memorial formed outside Tavern at the Beach, where friends and co-workers remembered Bryant, known as “Q,” as an important part of the Pacific Beach community.
“Energetic, funny, loving, anything kind was Qwente,” Peery said.
Police later released an image of an SUV in connection with the investigation. Peery said a Mercedes SUV was recovered in Mission Valley about five days after the collision.
Nearly eight months later, 22-year-old Viacheslav Akimenko was arrested and arraigned Thursday afternoon on charges including gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run causing death.
“My reaction? Thank God. It’s about time. It’s been eight months,” Peery said.
But she said the arrest also brought new questions.
“Who is this? Why not turn yourself in from day one?” she said.
Peery said the long wait has been especially difficult for Bryant’s mother.
“He just left her baby, left her baby to die. No regard for his life. Just heartless,” Peery said.
Bryant's relatives live outside San Diego, but Peery said they plan to travel here for upcoming court appearances.
“He deserves the justice,” Peery said. “The family, his mom deserves it.”
