MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A heartbroken mother faced her son’s killer as he was sentenced in court. She called it a blessing but not a win.
“Nothing is good for me. I don’t know. I’m still thinking that he’s coming. It’s not fair! It’s not fair. It’s not fair for me,” said Kesta Nelson who said she can’t and won’t forget the driver. He crashed into her son more than two years ago when he was heading to work at a security job.
Stephan Maze worked at what was then the American Airlines Arena. Investigators said Brandon Hunter slammed into Maze’s car outside of his Miami Gardens home.
Hunter took off shortly after he hit Maze and then hid out for months before he was caught.
“He was running over 100 miles at a 30-speed limit until he killed my son,” she said.
Maze was a well known and loved security guard at the arena. The Miami Heat even paid tribute to him before a game.
In the months and years that followed her son’s death, Nelson never gave up as police searched for the hit-and-run driver. She passed out flyers, hosted events, and kept his name in the news. She is thankful that Hunter is serving prison time.
Hunter accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to four years in prison followed by a year of community control and five years’ probation.
“I can’t look at him. All he has to tell me is he’s sorry. I said, listen, ‘I could forgive you if you stopped.’ Even if you give him to me with diaper and wheelchair I won’t feel this way,” said Nelson.
She told Local 10 News that “you’re the only one who was there for me that time. You are the only one that I make my phone call who came. You know that? I was on a mission and you know, I never give up.”