Exclusive | Mom of beloved IT worker killed by NYC hit-and-run driver pleads for driver to come forward

The mother of a beloved IT worker killed by a hit-and-run driver pleaded for the motorist to come forward Tuesday — saying she forgives the killer.

Heartbroken Keryann Stephens remembered her 27-year-old son Shariq Bryant as an “angel” who took care of his autistic brother and “lifted everyone up around him.”

Bryant was visiting pals in The Bronx over the weekend when the driver of a 2025 BMW M8 slammed into him as he crossed the intersection on East 222nd near Boston Road at around 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, cops and his grieving kin said. 

The maniac motorist barreled into a pole before bolting on foot, leaving behind Bryant and an injured passenger inside the mangled car, according to the NYPD. 

Bryant, an IT tech visiting from Connecticut, was rushed with severe body trauma to Jacobi Medical Center, where he died. 

Stephens urged her son’s killer to turn himself in, while telling him “I forgive you.”

“You took a wonderful person away from a family. The Holy Spirit is going to lead you to turn yourself in,” she said.

“I’m a God-fearing woman. I have to forgive you.”

The shattered mom said her son would want her to celebrate the upcoming holidays with his two younger brothers — one of whom is autistic — despite his tragic death. 

“He would want me to make sure they have a good Christmas,” she said, breaking down in tears during a phone interview. 

“He already started buying presents.”

Bryant “always put a smile on my face,” she said, adding, “When I’m down, my son made me smile. He lifted me up.”

Family friend Taniyah Montgomery, 21, echoed those sentiments, comparing Bryant to “an adopted older brother” prone to picking up tabs when they ate at Big Apple restaurants. 

“I don’t try to question God but out of all people, why Sha?” she said, referring to his nickname. 

“He had this crazy infectious laugh,” she recalled, “that even when something was not funny, hearing him laugh made you laugh.”