MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A teenager is out of the hospital Monday after police said a drunk driver mowed her down on Wilson Street before crashing through a church’s gate.
Police arrested Darrell Miller for driving under the influence.
Witnesses said before Miller barreled into the fence, and he hit the girl near a power pole several yards up the street.
Kierra Frazier, 17, was walking home with her friends.
“When I drove up, she was laying on the sidewalk. I thought she was dead,” Kierra’s grandmother, Michelle Archer, said.
She said she was relieved her granddaughter was home from the hospital and Miller was locked up.
“If you’ve got sense enough to hold a bottle up to your mouth, you’ve got sense enough to know you are drunk, and you can’t drive,” Archer said.
Kierra said she and her friends were on the side of the road, getting ready to cross the street. They held off when they saw a car coming.
“He just, he hit me and it was a Hummer, and I rolled up under the Hummer,” Kierra said.
She said she did not realize she was hit until her friends told her. She collapsed on the sidewalk. She has a sore back, shoulder and arm.
“I thought he was trying to kill us,” said Kierra’s friend Ola White, who was walking with Frazier. She said she believes Miller was drunk.
Neighbors on Wilson Street agree.
“He evidently hit brakes, because the tires started really, and he came up through the church gate,” neighbor June Fleming said.
Some neighbors stood by Miller’s car until police arrived so he could not drive away.
Police said he had a half-empty bottle of vodka in the car, and his speech was slurred.
“I guess he was feeling good, but I hope and pray he’s not feeling good this morning,” Archer said.
Miller is also charged with striking an object, failure to maintain control and violation of financial law. His bond is $2,500.
