Police: Teen that caused deadly wreck killing teacher was going 100 mph

DECATUR, Ga. — For the first time, the fiancé of a beloved teacher is speaking about the night Leah O'Brien, 33, was killed.
 
Alton Hines said he was waiting for O'Brien at her home the night of Saturday, April 25 when he got a call from her father, saying she had been in a car crash and didn't make it.
 
"To get a call and find out what had happened," Hines told Channel 2's Jessica Jaglois. "I just dropped straight to my knees and started to cry."
 
Hines said O'Brien was heading to drop off her 8-year-old daughter, Kori, at a soccer game before she was due back at her house to get ready for Lakeside High School's prom, which she was set to chaperone.
 
Hines said O'Brien turned left onto Scott Boulevard from Ridley Circle and was T-boned on the driver's side. 
 
"I had actually just finished putting on a blazer and bow tie, waiting for her to return," Hines said.
 
He was going to be O'Brien's escort to the prom at the Fernbank Museum.
 
In a tragic twist of fate, the person Decatur police said crashed into O'Brien was one of her own students from Lakeside, Romiro Pedemonte, 19.
 
Pedemonte and his date, Zanea McGirt, were headed to the same prom O'Brien was going to chaperone.
 
According to Decatur police, Pedemonte was going over 100 mph when he hit O'Brien.
 
Pedemonte was charged Thursday for killing O'Brien and seriously injuring her daughter.
 
He appeared in court Friday on charges of felony vehicular homicide and felony serious injury by motor vehicle. He was also charged with misdemeanor reckless driving.
 
When the judge set his bond at $55,000, Pedemonte's family cried and hung their heads. While they didn't want to say anything on Pedemonte's behalf, Hines did.
 
"I'm deeply saddened for his situation, but at the same time, he took someone away from me that I truly loved and cared for and that I was planning to spend the rest of my life with," Hines said.
 
O'Brien's daughter, Kori, remains in a medically-induced coma and her sister, Rachel, 10, is staying with family.
 
Pedemonte is due back in court later this month.