SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Thursday morning, Southfield police chief Elvin Barren shed light on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Mia Kanu.
Kanu, 23, was found dying on Providence Drive in Southfield in the early morning hours of June 3rd. Tuesday, police arrested the suspect.
Kanu's friend, 23-year-old Kentia Monique Fearn, was charged for driving drunk and for leaving the scene of an accident causing death. The latter charge is a felony.
Kanu's mother, Bianca VanMeter said, “My daughter was God-fearing. She was beautiful inside and out.”
Chief Barren gave a timeline of events of what happened before and after the accident. He said Kanu was a backseat passenger when she fell out of the vehicle and that she did not jump.
“There’s no evidence that suggests that Mia jumped from the vehicle. What the evidence suggests is that Mia may have been in the process of throwing up. There was vomit on the seal of the door, and there was vomit in the roadway," he explained.
Barren explained, “Alcohol was detected in Mia’s blood, and alcohol content was a .21.”
He played a video of the tragedy that was censored, so as not to show Kanu's body. But the video does show Fearn kept going.
The chief said, “You’re in control of the vehicle and someone exits your vehicle while the car is in motion, and you don’t take the time to stop, render aid and check on your friend. What kind of friend is that?"
Barren said, instead, Fearn went to the Detroit police 5th precinct to report her phone stolen.
But she still didn’t say anything about Kanu falling from the car.
“The officer reported that Ms. Fearn appeared highly intoxicated," Barren said.
He said it wasn’t until eight hours after the tragedy that Fearn came to the Southfield Police Department. She explaining that, prior to the tragedy, Fearn had gotten into an altercation with her boyfriend who allegedly took her phone and he drove off in another vehicle.
Fearn attempted, unsuccessfully, to follow her boyfriend while Kanu was in the backseat asleep.
During Fearn's drama, Kanu fell from the vehicle. It was a passerby who found Kanu in the road a few minutes later.
During the Thursday press conference, another loved one said, "Drunk driving is not a joke, and that, this whole situation boils down to that."
If convicted, Fearn faces up to 5 years in prison.
Kanu's family finds comfort in knowing Kanu donated her organs, saving an infant through the Gift of Life Michigan.
