Daughter mourns mom killed in car chase outside funeral home: ‘She was my best friend’
Lee Lafleur-Greene ended the call with her mother Sunday afternoon the same way she usually did: “I love you. I’ll talk to you later.”
That was the last time the 22-year-old spoke to her mother, Noelle Lazure.
Lazure, her daughter said, was leaving a Miami funeral home later that day and was struck by a car that was fleeing police. She was attending a service for her co-worker’s sister.
“I don’t think that I’ve come to the full realization that she is gone,” said Lafleur-Greene, who hopped on a plane Monday morning from North Carolina to rush to South Florida. “She was my best friend. She lit up a whole room when she was in it.”
Police said Sunday that the car that hit the 50-year-old Lazure, whom police have not publicly identified, was stolen Saturday in an armed carjacking and was involved in an armed robbery Sunday morning in Allapattah.
On Monday, police named the four people who have been charged: Jonathan Daniels, 16, Tharron Lawton, 18, Renard Bonham, 18 and Marvin Daniels, 15.
Lawton and Jonathan Daniels have been charged with armed robbery and displaying a firearm during a felony. Bonham and Marvin Daniels have been charged with concealing a firearm and trespassing. Other charges are pending, police say.
According to a police news release Monday, Miami officers who were on alert for the red Hyundai Elantra spotted the car in the Liberty Square area about 4:30 p.m. and pursued. The car was heading east on Northwest 58th Street and ran a stop sign at 17th Avenue, police said.
“While fleeing from officers and committing traffic infractions, the suspect’s vehicle was hit by a black vehicle traveling southbound on 17th Avenue,” police said in Monday’s release. “Prior to coming to rest, the stolen vehicle did cause damage to three other vehicles and a light pole.”
The “black vehicle” belonged to an off-duty Miami police officer, who was not injured. The car flipped and hit Lazure, then knocked down a light pole and damaged three parked cars.
Three police officers suffered minor injuries while trying to get the four suspects out of their overturned car. The officers were treated on the scene and released.
Meanwhile, Lefleur-Greene said she is left with more questions than answers. She wants to know why police were pursuing the car and if anything could have been done differently.
“This is really hard for me to understand,” she said. “She wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was just leaving a funeral.”
She said she is trying to remember the good times with her mom. Four days ago, her mom, who has lived in South Florida since 2016 and worked for VITAS Healthcare, sent her a birthday card and jewelry for her 22nd birthday.
On Sunday, around noon, she called to catch up, something they generally do on weekends. Her mom told her she didn’t like going out because of the “crazy drivers in Miami” but she said she had to go to a funeral.
“Now I am planning her funeral,” she said.
This story was originally published February 25, 2019 at 7:38 PM.
