A 9-year-old Georgia girl's family says she's lucky to be alive after a car plowed into her as she was playing in the front yard.
Surveillance video showed the harrowing moments the black sedan barreled into LaDerihanna Holmes while she was playing outside of her Lithonia house Friday with a friend.
"I do not understand how she survived," her family's attorney, L. Chris Stewart, said.
Holmes' mother, Charlette Bolton, said LaDerihanna suffered a fractured skull and cuts on her scalp and shoulder, and her pelvic bone is broken in three places. LaDerihanna's friend was also hospitalized, but not seriously injured.
DeKalb County police said the driver of the car and a passenger both got out of the car after it crashed into the front of the house and ran away. Police spoke with the owner of the car, who said her boyfriend had it that day. They have not identified any suspects.
Stewart said when he saw the video, he "almost fell out of my chair." And then when he visited LaDerihanna in the hospital he "just stared at her in the bed wondering 'How is she sitting right here watching TV, holding a teddy bear when I just saw her get crushed by a car?'"
The video shows people from the neighborhood pour into the yard as others come out of the house through the opening created by the car.
Bolton, who was home, ran outside as soon as she heard the "unearthing sound."
"I was acting out of pure adrenaline and emotion when I saw my baby girl laying on that ground," Bolton said. "She wasn't moving. Her eyes was open and agape. Her eyes were fixed, and I thought she was gone."
A boy from the neighborhood and LaDerihanna's brother started performing CPR on her before her father whisked her off to the hospital. She's expected to be hospitalized for at least a week, but her parents said she's recovering well.
"She's awake. She's up, she's talking, she's smiling, she's FaceTiming," Bolton said.
LaDerihanna, a straight-A student, loves school, reading, cheerleading, dancing and stepping, her mother said.
"She's a very blessed, strong, gifted little girl. And I'm proud to be her mom," Bolton said.
