LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The fight for justice continues for the Montgomery family after their loved one, Victor Montgomery, was hit by a car and killed while directing traffic at Joe T. Robinson Elementary School on August 14, 2023.
"He loved the kids at Joe T. Robinson and they loved him. They called him Paw Paw, just like his grandkids and he took time to talk to the kids," said his wife, Alice Montgomery. "When they got in trouble, he didn't rush them straight to the office he wanted to know why they [were] acting up. Were they having a problem with family. If they were hungry. Vic even took food and snacks because those were his babies."
After months of waiting and searching for answers, Arkansas State Police arrested 55-year-old Desmond Nkala in connection to Montgomery's death. Nkala appeared before a judge on Wednesday morning at the Pulaski County District Court facing charges of manslaughter.
We attended the plea arraignment and the prosecuting attorney representing the Montgomery's family asked the judge for a $100,000 bond because of the seriousness of manslaughter.
However, the defense attorney representing Desmond Nkala asked for $5,000 arguing that Nkala has no criminal history or traffic tickets and has good character.
Though Montgomery's family explained that this is not a case of character.
"Nobody's saying you're a bad person, you just made a bad decision. A 10-second bad decision that shattered our family forever. For that to be said that bond is not the punishment. Punishment should be something to deter a person," said Montgomery's niece, Kenisha Scott.
The defense also told the judge this is not a case of manslaughter but rather of criminal negligence. However, Montgomery's daughter, Angela Mccuien, disagreed and said incidents like this can't be repaired.
"Think of a chair and if you take one leg from that chair, is it stable? Will it ever be stable? Victor was a pillar in his community. He had a family, he had a community, he had his school friends that loved him just as much as Mr. Nkala," Mccuien described.
Judge Wayne Gruber set bond for Nkala at $20,000.
On the day of the accident, Nkala cooperated with police. Since he's originally from Nigeria, he must also surrender his passport and is not allowed to travel out of state.
Nkala was released on bail Wednesday after pleading not guilty.