Henry County

'She was everyone's light': Friends, family honor teen killed in hit-and-run

By Tom Jones, WSB-TV
By Tom Jones, WSB-TV

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — Friends, family and teammates gathered Tuesday night to pay tribute to a Henry County teen who was killed in a hit-and-run crash last week.

Her friends told Channel 2's Tom Jones that Tasia Gartner, 16, was irreplaceable.

“She was my best friend. She was my sister. She was my everything,” friend Kellsie Duffey, 15, said about her best friend Tasia.

“They were two. If you got one you got the other,” Gartner’s softball coach, who did not identify himself, told Jones.

Now Kellsie's best friend is gone and she said it's tearing her up.

Many can't understand why, according to police, Robert Huynh, 19, didn't stop after hitting and killing her friend on Highway 81 a little more than a week ago.

“He could have stopped. He didn't have to leave. He could have stopped and he didn't,” Duffey said.

Huynh was later arrested.

Robert Huynh

“This right here is a testament to the way Tasia lived her life,” Clay Ragsdale, Tasia's father, told group Tuesday night.

Her teammates called Tasia a good leader. She was their team captain.

Everyone gathered on the ball field at Alexander park in McDonough where Gartner played to light candles and remember her.

“I know it's going to be a hard struggle for us because we lost a family member,” their coach said.

Duffey took losing her teammate, someone who was like a sister to her, the hardest.

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Anything. Anything and everything you could talk to her about,” Duffey told Jones. “She was always there. Even when you didn't need her she was there.”

Huynh faces first-degree vehicular homicide, hit-and-run and failure to report an accident charges.

He'll make his first court appearance Aug. 2.

Tasia's coach said the team will figure out a way to honor her contributions on the field.

Tasia's father started a GoFundMe account to help pay for funeral expenses.

Cox Media Group

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