NEW ORLEANS – “You think you move past something but you don't,” Vegas Cola said.
Cola’s older sister, Daphne Cola, died in August 2014. She says her sister was a great mom and a great person, but the pain she feels three years later is indescribable.
“I always try to explain to people what losing your sister is like. It's like she was my best friend, she's basically my first friend,” Cola said. “Having to rearrange your life is like learning to walk with one leg when you spent most of your life walking with two.”
“Did you ever imagine that you could feel this type of pain? No and I've dealt with a lot of stuff in my life but this one took the cake,” she said.
The city of New Orleans is plagued by gun violence but gunshots are not what scares Cola.
“Why are they still riding in the streets in the same spot where my sister died?” Cola questioned.
Cola said the sight and sound of ATVs bring back painful memories. Daphne was run over by a four-wheeler nearly four years ago on North Claiborne as the sister were leaving a bar in Treme. The crash left Daphne in a coma. She died nine days later. She was 37 years old.
Four wheelers and dirt bikes are not allowed on city streets or on the interstate. Even though it is illegal, ATVs have recently been spotted in nearly every neighborhood in New Orleans, including the block of North Claiborne, where Daphne was killed.
Darrin Smith Jr., the man convicted of killing Daphne Cola was sentence to 10 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to negligent homicide.
“Mistakes happen, but that was a big mistake that happened,” ATV rider Joshua Williams in regards to Daphne’s death.
Williams said riding keeps him and his friends out of trouble.
“You don't have anything to do you can ride. You depressed you can ride. You want to be spiritual and free of mind, you can ride. When you're on a bike, you ain't thinking about nothing,” he said.
“Bikes up, guns down. You're taking more bikes off the street you having more kids on the street with nothing to do in their minds so what else they're going to do besides killing, selling drugs, breaking in houses…" he said.
Riding has become popular on social media with differing rider communities in cities like Houston, D.C., Miami, Baltimore, Atlanta, New York and Philadelphia. Many riders came to New Orleans during Mardi Gras.
Hundreds of riders were caught on video on the highway. The activity is something New Orleans Police Chief Michael Harrison says the department is creaking down on.
“What we are trying to do is get them stopped, cited and/or arrested in a way that they don't flee (or) commit harm to themselves or other people in the general public,” Harrison said.
The latest data from 2015 shows in that year alone, more than 97,000 ATV injuries were reported in the U.S. and between 1982 to 2015, more than 14,000 deaths.
“Can you imagine going to a corner where you saw the blood stains from your sister on the ground?That same area people are still riding, having the time of their life,” Cola said.
The decision to ride ATVs illegally has affected thousands of families and very nearly destroyed one. Daphne Cola lost her life, but her sister says her story is what keeps her legacy alive.