CHARLOTTE — The driver who left the scene after hitting and killing a young missionary from Utah in west Charlotte has been sentenced to prison, Channel 9 learned Friday.
The crash happened on May 1, 2025, on Beatties Ford Road. Channel 9 reported when witnesses saw a car jump the curb and hit the victims.
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“I heard a car speeding down the road; it was very loud, so I was like what in the world is that? I had time to walk out the back door and by the time I looked out the front, I saw it just crashing,” one witness told Channel 9’s Glenn Counts after the incident.
One of the victims in the crash was 18-year-old Aleki Langi, a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church issued a statement after the crash, saying he was on temporary assignment in Charlotte while awaiting a visa to serve in Jamaica. The church said Langi was excited to serve the mission.
A second missionary was also hit in the crash and recovered from their injuries.
About a month after the crash, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the driver in the hit-and-run crash as Tyzhaun Carney. He was arrested in South Carolina.
Carney was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter, felony hit and run, misdemeanor child abuse, and driving with license revoked.
This week, Carney pleaded guilty to those charges. He was sentenced to 31-47 months in prison.