Woman says son didn't know he hit teacher with car

The mother of the man charged in a hit-and-run crash that killed a school teacher said her son had no idea he hit a human.

Jamonta Smith, 20, faces vehicular homicide, failure to render aid and leaving the scene of an accident charges. He turned himself in a day after the crash and said he believed he was the person who hit 29-year-old Latara Worthy on South Fulton Parkway near Mason Road around 3 a.m. on Sunday.
           
"It wasn't his fault. He didn't know," Smith's mother told Channel 2’s Tom Jones from her Southeast Atlanta home.

The mother, who didn't want to reveal her name, couldn't understand why her son faces such serious charges.

"I'm sorry for their loss, but he didn't mean to do it. He didn't even know he hit somebody," she said.
           
Worthy, a Woodland Middle School language arts teacher, was celebrating her upcoming birthday and police said someone let her out of a car that night.

Officers said she was in the road when she was hit.

Smith’s mother said she wonders why Worthy was in the middle of the road.
           
Union City police still are not ready to answer that question.

"It's still under investigation," Detective Gloria Hodgson said.
          
Smith's mother said she urged her son to turn himself in after both saw media reports about Worthy's death.

She said her son was scared, but she told him he hadn't done anything wrong. She escorted him to police headquarters.
           
Police said Smith told them he thought he hit something that night, but wasn't sure what.

"He opened his door to check to see if he struck something and he said he didn't see anything. So, he left the scene," Hodgson said.
           
Smith's mother said police need to understand it was dark and raining that night, and Worthy was in the road. She said she still has compassion for what Worthy's family is going through.

"I feel sorry for her, her family, the kids at her school and her daughter, and I'm sorry that it happened," she said.
           
Smith bonded out of jail early Tuesday morning, but was not available for comment.