Funeral Held For Family Killed in Boulevard Accident

A Philadelphia woman and her three young children who were killed when they were struck by a driver on Roosevelt Boulevard have been laid to rest.

Friends and family remembered 28-year-old Samara Selena Banks and her three boys  -- Saamir Williams, Saa'Sean and Saa'Deem -- at a funeral at Deliverance Evangelistic Church on 2001 W. Lehigh Avenue in Philadelphia.

Banks and her four boys were crossing the Roosevelt Boulevard on the night of June 16 when they were hit by a car that witnesses say was speeding down the busy highway.

Banks, 28, and three of her boys, ages 4, 23 months and 7 months, died from the impact. Her oldest son, who is five, survived.

Normally, Banks took a different route home, but that night, according to her aunt, she changed her routine because she was concerned about being followed.

"I remember she did say that this man kept following her when she would go the C Street way, so normally she would get a little cab service or something. But it was nice out that night, so she just took the short walk and went the other way. It just really baffled me because I know the way she goes home," Latonya Byrd said.

"You have your children with you at night, you gotta think quickly. A man is walking behind you, of course you're going to change your route."

The driver accused of hitting the family, Akhmedov was arrested, along with a second driver, Ahmen Holloman, because police believe the two men were street racing.

Akhmedov is charged with four counts of homicide by vehicle, third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter as well as reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, simple assault and aggravated assault by vehicle charges. Prosecutors decided Holloman should face the exact same charges, even though his Holloman's car did not strike the victims.

"Because they were both operating in a reckless manner that resulted in the death of four people," said Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, on the day the men were arraigned. "The charges applied to the laws that they both broke."

Bail for each man has been set at $2.5 million.

Akhmedov is also facing trial in federal court in a conspiracy and fraud case. He's accused in the operation of am ambulance service, of conspiring to bilk the government out of more than $3 million dollars by billing for medical expenses that were not necessary.