A metro Atlanta family is pleading for a driver to come forward after a wreck that left a 9-year-old child in critical condition.
LaDerihanna Holmes, 9, suffered a fractured skull, broken pelvic bone and other internal injuries after a car slammed into her home Friday, hitting her as she and a friend played in the front yard, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported. The Holmes family said it’s a miracle she’s alive.
“If you didn’t believe in miracles, you should now,“ the family’s attorney, Chris Stewart, told local media. “The video is really hard to watch but she survived somehow. You gotta believe in God after seeing this.“
Family members say LaDerihanna Holmes suffered a skull fracture, broken pelvic bone and other injuries as a result of the crash. (Photo by Charlette Bolton)
Video captured by the home’s security cameras and obtained by ABC News showed the moment the out-of-control sedan blew through a stop sign at a nearby intersection and jumped the curb before careening into the Holmes’ Dekalb County residence. In the clip, little LaDerihanna is seen playing with a friend moments before the crash.
Holmes’ friend managed to dodge the oncoming car, but the 9-year-old wasn’t so lucky and was hit when it plowed into her family’s home.
The video showed one person slip out the vehicle’s passenger’s side and stagger from the scene as family members rushed to help the young girl. A second person was also spotted leaving the scene, the Holmes’ family said. Dekalb County authorities are now looking for the persons involved as LaDerihanna’s mother pleads for the driver to come forward.
“Please, you know what you did,” Charlette Bolton told ABC News. “You didn’t try to help my baby. You almost killed my baby. I hope you do the right thing and turn yourself in.”
“Just please turn yourself in, please cooperate with police so my baby can get justice,” she repeated in an interview with Atlanta station WSB-TV.
According to a police report, the owner of the car, a Black Ford Fusion, is a woman who said she was at work and that her boyfriend was driving her car. Holmes’ family doesn’t believe the woman’s boyfriend was behind the wheel, however, because the two people who fled the scene appeared to be juveniles, Stewart said.
The attorney has since launched a GoFundMe page to help the family raise money to cover LaDerihanna’s medial expenses. So far, the page has collected almost $2,000 in donations. Their goal is $20,000.
“At this current moment, she is in critical condition and the family is in need of financial assistance,” Stewart wrote. “The family is asking for any donations that can help with the medical assistance of this tragic accident.”
Watch more in the video below.
