HOUSTON – A family is remembering a woman killed in a wrong-way crash.
Anitra White said her daughter, 33-year-old Diandra Bellamy, worked for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
“She loved laughter and she loved life,” said White.
White described Diandra as a beacon of light.
“She was a social butterfly, even as a child, she was this amazing social butterfly and she did everything. I mean, everyone loved her,” White said.
Houston police said the suspect, 35-year-old Jason Black, is now charged with intoxication manslaughter.
According to police, Black was identified as the driver of a truck that drove the wrong way on the Southwest Freeway exit ramp and struck an SUV early Friday morning.
Court records said Diandra was a passenger in Black’s vehicle. White said Black was a colleague.
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AIDS Healthcare Foundation said Diandra most recently worked as associate director for its public health division overseeing all of AHF’s HIV and STD testing and prevention programs in Texas.
“Diandra was an exuberant spirit, passionate and deeply committed to AHF’s mission and to her community,” Whitney Engeran-Cordova, Vice President, Public Health Programs, said in a statement. “Her perspective, courage and determined optimism was an inspiration to AHF, her family and the community and she will be sorely missed.”
“Diandra has left a mark, a lasting impression on everybody,” said White. “She has left a legacy that, as a parent, you can’t ask for anymore.”
The family said a vigil is planned for later this week in Houston and Diandra will eventually be laid to rest next to her grandmother in South Carolina.