The victim of a hit-and-run is out of the hospital after surveillance footage caught suspects crashing into her in the family's front yard.
LaDerihanna Holmes was playing in her yard in March 29 when a Ford Fusion sedan suddenly drove into her. Nearly a month after the incident, the 9-year-old DeKalb County, Georgia, resident is back home from the hospital. She called the suspects involved "cowardly," reports Channel 2 Action News.
“I feel like it was a cowardly thing to do,” she said in a May interview. “You run me over but I’m going to get better real soon.”
Her story circulated when surveillance footage catching the incident unfold went viral. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the 28-year-old suspect, Gabriel Fordham, turned himself in to authorities a few days after the crash.
He was charged with failure to maintain lane, failure to stop at a stop sign, reckless driving, hit-and-run and serious injury by vehicle. A DeKalb County judge denied the suspect a release on bond.
While in hearing in mid-April, Fordham attempted to shift blame. He claimed he was a victim of a carjacking. The passenger seen in the footage running away from the car was supposedly the carjacker.
“I don't believe, not one time, that you were carjacked,” the victim's mother, Charlette Bolton, said in court in April.
“My daughter is afraid of this man. My daughter has seen his picture, and I’m afraid as well,” Bolton added.
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The devastating crash left the 9-year-old with several injuries including a fractured skull and crushed pelvic bone. She is currently in rehab.
Since the incident, she has had to rely on a wheelchair and walker to get around. Another girl, LaDerihanna's friend, was also injured suffering a broken foot.
In the moments after crash, Fordham reportedly did not help the girls nor did he call 911. His attorneys claimed he did not have his cellphone at the time. Several beer bottles also found in the Ford Fusion.
“After exiting the vehicle, he doesn’t try to render aid, he doesn’t try to call the police,” she said. “He doesn’t seem concerned with the victim who was on the ground. He was more concerned about finding his property in the vehicle.”
Authorities in DeKalb County have yet to identify the other person in the car. However, an investigation for the person's identity is still ongoing. Fordham still remains in jail in the meantime.
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