Hit & Run Death

On March 17, 2021, a hit-run incident involving a local man has forever changed the lives of those who knew him. On that date, 56-year-old Tony Martin was on his way to see a longtime friend when he was, some have said, hit deliberately by a driver who didn't bother to stop after hitting Martin. Martin's daughter, Keshanta Reed Williams' got word of her father's death from her uncle hours later, not from the Monroe Police Department. Martin was killed on Grammont Street as he was steps from the home of his friend, Wardell Brown that night when according to Brown, he had just stepped outside when he saw Martin walking toward his home. At the same time, a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed was heading towards Martin, when Brown watching things unfold, said to himself that if the driver doesn't change the direction of his vehicle, he "is going" to hit Tony. Mere seconds later, Brown's fears were realized as he heard a sickening sound of the impact of metal against flesh. Brown quickly dialed 911 and ran to the scene of the impact, only to see his longtime friend lying on the ground limply. Brown said that he tried to help his friend by calling out his name over and over, but he knew after a few seconds that his friend Tony was dead. Brown would stay with his friend until MPD arrived minutes later, followed by EMTs.

Keshanta, not aware of what had happened to her father, would later receive the devastating news of Martin's death. Martin's death was even more painful to her because she was Martin's only child. Williams' pain, she said, was magnified, when in the ensuing days, no one from MPD came to her home to talk about her father's death, not even routine questions that police officers would ask when someone is killed. That was compounded by the fact that she had to make arrangements to bury her father, which the family did on March 26. What has Williams most upset is that it appears that her father's death was not reported to the media, whether it was video or print. For Williams, it was as though her father didn't exist. The only people that knew of Martin's death and funeral were those who were closest to him, not the community, because his death and the circumstances of it were not made public. Williams, not waiting for MPD to come to her, went to MPD headquarters and was told that an officer, not a detective, was "doing an investigation" and that the department was taking her case seriously trying to apprehend her father's killer. Williams says that she is disturbed with the way her father's case is being handled, in that there has not been a public statement from MPD, nor was she given a number to call back to speak to whoever was in charge of the case. When Williams was interviewed, she spoke in a quiet voice, but there was no mistaking that there was also a quiet anger in her tone that didn't hide the pain that she continues to bear. Williams and Brown both have lost someone that they loved so much. Williams, being the only child, says that she misses her father so much. Brown talked about the times he shared with Martin, that he was a straight-up kind of person and that Martin was always welcomed in his home. Brown says that it has been tough on him, as sometimes he has trouble sleeping at night, because the memory of seeing such a good friend/person get hit by someone who didn't have the decency to stop will be with him for the rest of his life. Brown says that he is convinced the driver of the vehicle saw Martin because the impact scene was right by a lighted utility pole. Brown described the vehicle as a red Silverado with tinted windows, a two-door extended cab model truck. Williams and Brown both believe that had police officers alerted the public hours after the incident through media, it may have led to an investigation then to an arrest. However, for Keshanta Williams and Wardell Brown, two people very close to Tony Martin, no one knows if/when an arrest will be made. They want the community to know that Tony Martin was somebody who was loved and loved people, especially those close to him. They know that the pain of Martin's death will be with them for a while longer, but an arrest/conviction of the individual that ended Martin's death will go a long way in bringing justice and closure to a very painful episode of their lives.