{"id":9243,"date":"2017-11-01T15:45:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T15:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madd.org\/?p=9243"},"modified":"2022-06-28T07:12:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T07:12:28","slug":"voices-of-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madd.org\/voices-of-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"Janakae Toinette Sargent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Designated driver\u00a0\u2014 it’s not just an empty phrase.<\/p>\n

It’s a calling, a commitment to safety, an act of kindness that can have a lifesaving impact. At least, that’s what 20-year-old Janakae Toinette Sargent believed. That’s why, a few days before Thanksgiving in 2006, she was aimlessly driving around Lubbock waiting for a party to end. She had dropped off two friends earlier. They wanted to drink. She wanted to ensure they made it home safely.<\/p>\n

Meet Janakae<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"Maybe it’s a mother’s love for her first born, but Kandi Wiley describes her daughter in a steady stream of adjectives and adverbs.<\/p>\n

“She was smart. Janakae was beautiful…she was giddy…she was talented, stubborn, outspoken, opinionated, passionate and big-hearted,” Kandi said, deliberately and carefully recalling each unique trait. “I know I am biased, but I have heard from other people who said they saw her in the same light. She was set in her ways. She was strong in her beliefs.”<\/p>\n

A poet with a love of animals, Janakae was in her third year at Texas Tech University where she was studying veterinarian medicine when she wasn’t playing in the marching band. She had a goal of playing every instrument before graduation.<\/p>\n

“And she was well on her way to achieving that goal,” her mother laughed.<\/p>\n

Janakae wanted to care for animals. She always had, even as a little girl.<\/p>\n

“Janakae was always toting something home,” Kandi said. “She especially loved dogs, but we had everything from hermit crabs to potbelly pigs and cows.”<\/p>\n