Hundreds packed a northwest Miami church for the funeral of Tray Walker who was buried in style on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Baltimore Ravens rookie was laid to rest in a casket designed with his team logo and number on the exterior and lined in Louis Vuitton monogram.
Walker was fatally injured on March 17 when he was struck by a SUV as he rode his white Honda dirt bike westbound on Northwest 75th Street at about 7:30 p.m. Walker was not wearing a helmet and he dressed in black clothing, according to Miami-Dade police.
He was transported to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced brain dead and taken off life support the next day.
Walker was eulogized at his funeral by Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who recalled Walker’s sense of humor. Harbough said that when the team lined up on the sideline for the Star-Spangled Banner before games, Walker, who was a special teams player, stood right behind him — to be sure he got on TV.
“The thing I loved the most about this guy, this young man, was that Tray Walker smile,” Harbaugh said. “That smile could light up a room.”
Police say the driver of the Ford Escape that collided with Walker, Donzetta Coaxum, 62, stayed on the scene and cooperated fully with police.
But Walker’s sister, Shalonda Martin, told a local media outlet the SUV ran a stop sign before the fatal collision.
Friends and teammates remembered the Ravens cornerback on social media after news reports of his death.
One of Walker’s classmates at Miami Northwestern High School wrote:
“Today we lost more than an athlete, we lost a son, a brother, a teammate, a classmate, a friend, and a GREAT person. You proved that something positive can come out of Miami Northwestern and off of 71st Street.”
