DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A driver speeding from police hit and killed a woman’s mother and nearly killed her teenager.
She told Channel 2 Action News that the grandmother likely saved her grandson’s life.
After talking to the family exclusively on Friday, Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes learned they were walking away from Miller Grove Middle School that day police were chasing a suspect, when the suspect’s car lost control and hit the two victims.
It was at the corner of Covington Highway and Miller Road.
The family believes the teen survived because his grandmother protected him
“I could’ve lost both of them. It was really hard,” said Kenda Stuckey, the boy’s mother.
Stuckey told Fernandes that she got the worst phone calls of her life while she was in the middle of a work meeting on April 16.
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One caller said her son was at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta because he was in a terrible accident near his school during dismissal.
The other caller said her mother, Antoinette Catchings, was also in an accident and did not make it.
When Stuckey got to the hospital, fearing the worst, her 14-year-old son was in critical condition.
“It was like all his ribs were broken, his lungs weren’t working properly,” Stuckey said.
While she prayed for her son’s recovery, she had to make plans to bury her mother, who was always at Miller Grove Middle School volunteering and helping out.
“She just helped everybody. I think God put her on this earth just to be here to help and support other people,” Stuckey said.
Police were chasing Joseph Odeh, 18, who lost control and hit the victims who were walking home from school.
Stuckey doesn’t know how she’ll live life without her mom, but she’s grateful her son survived.
“I’m relieved that he’s here, but it’s gonna be different, and hard, and a little more challenging because they don’t have that grandmother at home – always there, every day. So it’s definitely gonna be different,” Stuckey said.
Fernandes met an aunt who is in the medical field. She said she wasn’t sure if the middle school student was going to make it, but thankfully, he pulled through.