RICHMOND, Va. — A street sign at the corner of North 11th and East Broad Street in downtown Richmond honors Dr. Lindsey Grizzard Braun, a nurse practitioner at VCU Health System whose life was cut short by a reckless driver.
"I walk by the street sign every day. I miss her," Nikki Longest, a friend of Lindsey Grizzard Braun since childhood, told CBS 6.
Dr. Braun was remembered by colleagues as someone who made a profound impact on those around her.
"She was extremely smart, she was extremely funny. She loved her job," said Mindy Applewhite, Lindsey's mother.
Friends describe her as a passionate advocate for her patients who found her calling in healthcare.
"Lindsey was an advocate, because she would speak her mind. If she thought something, she would say it. She just wanted to be there for people and do what she could to make people feel better," Longest said.
On July 31, 2023, the 30-year-old caregiver's life ended tragically when she was involved in a car accident outside her South Richmond home.
"I took an oath to protect public safety and the one person I couldn't protect was my daughter," Applewhite, who spent her career in law enforcement, said.
Just after 2 p.m. that day, Lindsey was pulling out of her driveway when her vehicle was T-boned by another car.
"She had to be cut out of the car. Her husband heard the accident because it was in front of their house, and came out and had to watch this," Applewhite said.
Though Lindsey survived the initial impact, the injuries proved fatal.
"They took her to MCV, where she worked, where she asked to go, where she started suffering from the whiplash. It was so violent that she started suffering strokes, and they lost her in emergency brain surgery. We lost her," Applewhite said.
Lindsey's death deeply affected the medical community where she worked. She received multiple tributes, including an honor walk recognizing her decision to be an organ donor.
"About three days after her accident, they closed down the operating rooms at MCV and all of her colleagues, her friends, doctors and nurses and staff lined the halls where we followed behind while we wheeled her to the operating room," her friend said.
Six months after her death, Richmond City Council passed a resolution for a permanent memorial near the entrance of the hospital where she worked.
"It was incredible when you looked around and were like, wow, who can bring this many people into one space just to honor someone for a few minutes," her friend said.
Applewhite has visited her daughter's sign downtown but says each visit brings mixed emotions.
"Good memories, because she's forever looking over her people at MCV that she loved, sad memories because she should be here," Applewhite said.
Police identified Tabias McClean as the driver who hit Lindsey.
He was traveling more than 30 miles per hour over the speed limit at the time of the crash. Applewhite believes he should never have been driving that day.
"He was a violent offender that was on supervision in Richmond for shooting somebody in the back when he was 14 during a drug transaction. After he got out, he was arrested for, I believe, another reckless driving and two distributions of drugs, which were both certified to the grand jury, so he had two more pending felonies before he hit her," Applewhite said.
Having spent her career in parole and probation, Applewhite feels the criminal justice system failed her family.
"I understand how the system works, because I worked in it my whole life, and probation officers and parole officers have an allegation to public safety that should be their number one role. I understand that offenders sometimes deserve second and even third chances, but when you're proven yourself to be violent and disregard the law, it's time for you to come off the street before you victimize somebody else," Applewhite said.
McLean ultimately pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
"We agreed to a plea agreement to keep from having to go to trial and putting our family through listening to all the details of the crime again," Applewhite said.
He was sentenced to 10 years behind bars, with five years suspended. McLean is scheduled for release in 2027.
Applewhite is channeling her grief into advocacy, much like her daughter did for her patients.
"What would help me is to help other families not become victims. What would help me is if somebody the Public Safety Director, the governor, I don't care who reviewed the policies at the probation offices about the arrest authority that they have, and the remove violent felons from the streets," Applewhite said.
Nearly two years after Lindsey's passing, her loved ones still feel the pain of her absence, especially with the bittersweet reminder of her memorial sign.
"She had a lot of life to live, and she was just getting started, and she should have been able to see that through," her friend said.
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