On the evening of September 16, forty-year-old Melissa Jones was driving a SUV with three of her children, headed to the hospital for the birth of her first grandchild, when her vehicle was hit by a 5-pound brick that had been thrown from the Keenes Mill Road overpass in Cottondale, Alabama.
According to Tuscaloosa News, truck driver Frederick Golden was driving behind Jones when he noticed her car begin swerving. Golden told authorities he believed the SUV driver was having a heart attack. He maneuvered his truck so that he was driving between the lanes to keep traffic away from the arrant SUV.
Jones’ 14-year-old son was able to pull her SUV off the road.
Golden called 911 and ran to Jones’ vehicle to help. Jones was badly injured.
Golden stayed with Jones until help arrived. He tried to keep Jones’ children, 14, 8 and 5, calm.
“She had a huge gash, probably 10 inches long, that was closed with 45 stitches or staples,” Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit Investigator Simon Miller testified in Tuscaloosa County District Court on Tuesday. “Her right lung was collapsed, she had a broken sternum and a broken right collarbone. It dislocated both shoulders, broke both jawbones and several teeth. She had several lacerations on her shoulder,” Tuscaloosa News reported.
Jones was transported to the hospital.
Two teens are being charged with throwing the brick from the overpass at Jones’ oncoming vehicle.
Adam Shane Herren and Jordan Price, both 16, have been charged with first-degree assault.
“I was just a fellow human being helping a person in need,” Golden said in the police statement that Miller read in court.
Read more about the crime here.