Family and friends remember 12-year-old killed by suspected drunk driver

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Monday night, friends and family of Kavari Drisdell, the 12-year-old killed by a suspected drunk driver late Sunday night, gathered to remember him.

Kavari's father, Howard Drisdell, was the one that came to his aid in the street after the crash.

Drisdell told WAND News, "I got him up. But, [at the hospital], the lady came and told us he was doing okay. He had fractured ribs and a fractured pelvis. But then, she came back in and said he was doing worse than when he got there. Said he had internal bleeding in his stomach. There was nothing they could do to stop that."

Drisdell couldn't put his emotions of losing his son into words.

"Unexplainable. That's my child. That's my first child. Unexplainable. I can't explain it," he said. "Something like a reel missing from you, like your heart got snatched out of you."

Drisdell said, even in Kavari's young age, he was turning into a great man. "One of the smartest kids I knew. Way better man than I could ever be," Howard said. "He loved helping out. Loved his family. Did anything for them."

Friends and family released balloons to the sky in Kavari's honor.

The car that hit Kavari was driven by a 45-year-old man who has been identified as Hassan Woods, Decatur police said. Woods had a history of DUI conviction and was denied pre-trial release Monday.