A clear sky. Low around 45F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

A clear sky. Low around 45F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.

The collision was loud — like a gunshot, according to witnesses.

The force so powerful it literally launched the toddler down the road, detaching his pants and diaper.

The driver later told officials she saw something white in the background.

But she didn’t stop.

I remember the date — Nov. 26, 2020.

It was the evening of Thanksgiving. And it’s never good when you hear from law enforcement on a holiday.

McDowell County Sheriff James “Boomer” Muncy, then chief deputy, told me a 2-year-old boy had been seriously injured in a hit-and-run crash in the Three Forks area.

They had a description of the suspect vehicle and wanted to get the word out.

I wrote the story, put it online and blasted it on all our social media accounts.

Boomer and I spoke, at length, about the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The family of the child had just arrived home. We speculated if the toddler had pulled away from an adult’s hand.

But still, we wondered, why didn’t the driver stop?

The next day I wrote a second story, this one more tragic then the first.

Bryce Vance died from his injuries.

At age 2 his life was just beginning. Who knows what awaited.

First day of school. First bike ride. First girlfriend. First kiss.

It was a horrific event made even more tragic by the timing.

I wondered if his family would ever be able to celebrate the holiday again.

And, still, I pondered the question of why the driver didn’t stop.

News of the collision and Bryce’s subsequent death was covered by multiple media outlets.

It was on the Daily Telegraph front page for a minimum of two days and all our social media sites.

The Nov. 28, 2020, lead headline read: “Toddler dies in hit-and-run: McDowell Sheriff’s Department still seeking vehicle.”

My story included reports that the vehicle was headed toward Buchanan County, Va.

For days it seemed that everyone in both West Virginia and Virginia were keeping an eye out for the silver, older model sport utility vehicle described by witnesses.

Yet the driver remained absent.

Police obtained video of the suspect’s vehicle, then got a tip.

Angel Alberta Estep of War drove just such an SUV.

Although she lived in McDowell County, on that night Estep was on her way to work in Buchanan County.

“We went to look for Angel and got DNA off her car,” Boomer told me later. “We set her up for a polygraph and when she came in she confessed — not to running over him, but she said she knew she hit something.”

And still she didn’t stop?

Estep was arrested one week after the crash. She was charged with negligent homicide, crash involving death, duty to render aid, immediate notification of crash and failure to maintain control.

Ultimately, she was found guilty by a jury of crash involving death, failure to give information and render aid and failure to report an accident.

Sadly it’s not, so much, when one looks at the punishment defined by statute as determined by state lawmakers.

Last Thursday Circuit Court Judge Ed Kornish sentenced Estep to the maximum penalty — one to five years for crash involving death, plus a $5,000 fine.

She also got another 10 days in jail for failure to report the collision.

While the accident may have been just that — an accident — there is no getting around the fact that Estep didn’t stop.

She didn’t hit a deer.

Or a discarded bag of trash.

She hit a child and left the scene. And, despite a media blitz, she did not turn herself in to authorities.

Bryce is dead at age 2.

Estep will likely spend about two and a half years behind bars.

This case is a tragedy at every level.

Why aren’t the penalties for these crimes tougher?

And, oh why, didn’t she stop?

Samantha Perry is editor of the Daily Telegraph. Contact her at sperry@bdtonline.com. Follow her @BDTPerry.

Saturday, 11 a.m., at the Dudley Memorial Chapel in Bluefield, Va. Entombment will follow at Grandview Memory Mausoleum.

Saturday, 7 p.m., at Cravens-Shires Funeral Home in Bluewell.

Saturday, 1 p.m., at Wallace & Wallace Funeral Home in Lewisburg.

Saturday, noon, at the Smith Family Cemetery on Smith Ridge near Jewell Ridge, Va.

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