Father still mourns the loss of his daughter who died in a car accident on Blake Lane

FAIRFAX, VA — People told Jie Yan that the wound he felt after losing his 15-year-old daughter, Lee Yan, would heal after two years. But that’s not the case. Yan compared the pain he felt to the loss of a body part.

“I feel like I’m out of surgery,” Yan told Patch on Friday. “The wound is healed, but I lost a leg and I’m disabled. Do you know what I feel? My leg is gone. I lost my leg. That’s how I feel.”

Yan, his wife and other family members gathered with supporters at the corner of Blake Lane and Five Oaks Road in Fairfax on Friday afternoon to mark the second anniversary of the deaths of Lee Yan Hanjia and her friend Ada Gabriela Martinez Nolasco.

Related: Driver sentenced after accident with two fatalities at Oakton High School

On June 7, 2022, the two Oakton High School students were on their way home, looking forward to summer vacation, when they were struck by a BMW driven by their classmate Usman Shahid, 18, after his car collided with an SUV turning left at the Five Oaks Road intersection. A third student, who was on his way home with Nolasco and Hanjia, was seriously injured in the accident.

The families of the victims were not satisfied with the verdict, said Jie Yan. At the start of the trial, Shahid faced a maximum sentence of ten years for each conviction for manslaughter. Instead of twenty years in prison, he now faces a maximum sentence of four years.

On July 19 at 1 p.m., District Court Judge Randy Bellows will determine Shahid’s final sentence based on the jury’s recommendation. Although Bellows is prohibited from sentencing Shahid to more than the recommended four years, he could opt for a lesser sentence.

On February 23, Jie Yan and his wife, Young J. Lee, filed a civil lawsuit in Fairfax County District Court hoping to hold Shahid accountable for his actions on June 7, 2022.

Related: