Friends and family mourn Apopka woman killed in hit-and-run crash

APOPKA, Fla. — An Apopka community honored the life of a young mother who was hit and killed as she was leaving her new job over the weekend.

Family and friends held a candlelight vigil for Nikkita Pope, 31, was killed while crossing U.S. 441 at the intersection of Piedmont Wekiwa Road around 4 a.m. Saturday.

Carmen Clayton, 45, faces a charge of hit and run crash involving death in connection to the crash.

"The last few days, it's been hard. But I had to be strong for my mom and my sisters because it's a lot for us," said Jeremiah Pope, Nikkita's brother.

Jeremiah said Nikkita was one of 16 siblings and was a doting mother to her 7-year-old son.

"She was a really good mother. She was a good mother and she really took care of her child," he said.

An Apopka resident called police to report a suspicious vehicle in the neighborhood that appeared to have been involved in a crash, police said.

Traffic Homicide investigators went to the area and determined that it was the vehicle that struck Pope.

Clayton was taken to the Orange County Jail.

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Cox Media Group