Couple known for missionary work are run over, killed at bus stop, MI cops say

A married couple was run over and killed while waiting at a bus stop to buy groceries for their five children, according to Michigan police and loved ones of the victims.

Dejah Latre Berry now faces charges following the April 25 crash in Detroit that killed urban missionaries Kwasi Agbottah and Elizabeth Agbottah, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release.

Officials said Berry, 33, was driving “at a high rate of speed when she lost control of her vehicle.” She then crashed into the Agbottahs, who were sitting at a bus stop at the intersection of Evergreen Road and Fenkell Avenue.

The Agbottahs were taken to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead, the prosecutor said.

According to a GoFundMe, the couple was on their way to buy groceries for their five sons, who range in age from 2 to 15. The boys are now in the care of other family members.

The couple was known for their urban missionary work, which loved ones said impacted “the lives of so many different people across the country.”

They had lived and worked in Detroit since 2019, where they first stayed with Pastor Chris Brooks. He called the news of their deaths “unexpected and devastating.”

“Kwasi and Elizabeth knew what it was to truly live on mission for Jesus,” Brooks said on Facebook. “They loved God, his people and the community they served with their whole heart. They embodied the gospel and carried it to the hurting, marginalized and often overlooked.”

Kwasi Agbottah, 43, was the lead instructor at Wellspring, a youth organization in Detroit. The center said he “poured his energy and heart into guiding, mentoring, and teaching our youth.”

The 41-year-old Elizabeth Agbottah, also a “devoted educator,” was known for her “deep love of language,” which she instilled in her home by raising her sons to be bilingual, according to a Facebook post from Selena Sage.

“Kwasi and Elizabeth’s greatest ministry was their family: five beautiful boys, now ages 15, 13, 5, 4, and 2, who embody the love, faith, and strength their parents lived every day,” Sage said. “Their legacy — of service, education, faith, and radical generosity — lives on through their sons, through Kwasi’s writing and music, and in the countless lives they touched.”

The prosecutor’s office said Berry was charged with two counts of reckless driving causing death and two counts of driving while license is suspended, revoked or denied causing death.