Sailor says car was stolen while he helped woman in car wreck

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County man says someone stole his car while he helped a woman badly injured in a car crash.

The crash happened early Friday morning when a woman pulled out in front of someone else down Moreland Avenue near Interstate 285.

That’s when Marsell James rushed to get out of his car when he saw crash happen right in front of him.

“Being a Navy sailor, instinct kicks in and just save, save, save,” James said. “I put my car in park, jumped out the car and went straight onto the scene to assist.”

James told Channel 2's Matt Johnson that helping the elderly woman gasping for breath in her car was the only thing on his mind.

“She looked like she has a family. She looked like she could be somebody’s mother,” James said.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Young man with diminished mental capacity dropped off at hospital
• 20-year-old shot, killed at house party in Gwinnett County, police say
• Wintry mix falling in parts of north Georgia, flurries possible in metro

While he was with her, before she died, DeKalb police say someone else saw James’s car and stole it.

“Now I’m thinking of my car and I look back and my car was gone,” James said.

The seven-year Navy sailor has been without his white Nissan Altima since.

But what he thinks about most is the family that lost their 65-year-old mother.

“I wish I could have saved her. Absolutely wish I could have saved her,” James said.

DeKalb police say a woman with open alcohol containers in her car crashed into the 65-year-old. Both women died after the crash.

Another witness told James that someone in a silver pickup truck got into his car.

“I’m not thinking of locking my car, or anything like this happening on an accident scene. I’m thinking about going to go help,” James said.

James told Johnson that he would like his car back but what happened won't stop him from helping others.

“I continue to do the good thing and the right thing when nobody’s looking, and that’s what integrity is,” James said.

Johnson contacted the crash victim's family Tuesday night, but they said they were too devastated right now to talk about her.

They said she was heading home from work and leaves behind three children.

Cox Media Group