NEW ORLEANS — It was early Monday morning when construction worker Reg Boulie saw his co-worker struggling to pull 12-year-old Derrick Cash out of the road.
“He was an older guy. So, I went down there to kind of give him a hand,” Boulie said. “As I got closer, I noticed it was a person that was gasping for air. When I got out, he said ‘call 911.’”
The young boy would soon be dead, leaving his godmother Linda Cash riddled with questions.
“It bothers me because he’s a child,” Cash said. “A 12-year-old child was left out there he cannot even drive.”
According to both Linda and Keshia Hunt, cousins to Derrick’s mother Pamela, they all recently spent time with Derrick.
“Enjoying the holidays [and] just received gifts from his family and parents. Just enjoying the Christmas holiday like any other 12-year-old was doing,” Cash said.
Cash says she will miss the light that her godson Derrick brought with him wherever he went.
“Derrick walked in a room he had this big smile. His smile was so beautiful,” she said. “He was very talkative. He loved his family. He loved to play basketball. He was just a joyful kid.”
In the same way that Boulie, who grew up in New Orleans East, spoke about the lack of activity for local youth saying, Hunt said, “We just don’t have those things, nothing for the young kids to get into.”
Cash agrees, saying, “like no one cares about them at all and it’s going to happen again because New Orleans. They not caring about the children at all. They don’t have nothing for them down there, no activities, nothing.”
Hunt says they are searching for the hope they are asking NOPD to provide.
“Try find out what happened to Derrick so they can at least give the family some peace. It won’t give any closure, but it will definitely give us a little bit of peace,” Hunt said. “A little bit of hope in our justice system in the police department.”
The family also tells me the pain from the loss of Derrick’s young life has left his mother devastated and at a complete loss for words.
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