MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A couple sits behind bars after police said they tried to run a group of kids down with a car.
Police said Frank Johnson was behind the wheel and his girlfriend, Ilaina Holliway, was the passenger when their car jumped the curb and headed toward a group of children playing outside the Camelot Manor Apartments on Saturday night.
Johnson’s sister defended her brother’s actions and said everything in the police report is simply not true. However, witnesses said they saw the couple barreling toward the children going fast and furious.
People who saw it going down said they couldn’t believe their eyes. Tee Williams described how he saw Johnson and Holliway gunning it toward a group of children.
“Yeah, I was out here last night when he pulled right round through here coming in that white van flying last night,” Williams said. “I mean dude straight mashing it. I mean, like, trying to mow the little kid down.”
“He went at him, missed him, turned it around — I say whipped it,” Williams continued. “I mean he whipped it, turned back around and came back trying to hit that man last night.”
Police said the kids were in a grassy area when Johnson jumped the curb.
“He was doing that intentionally,” Williams said. “First thing that said to my mind is somebody need to call the police.”
“Yesterday I did see about six police cars fly through the apartment,” another witness said.
The duo was arrested and carted off to jail.
“That’s crazy, it’s delusional, and I feel like that’s not right,” the second witness said. “I’m glad MPD arrested them.”
Montoya Johnson, Frank Johnson’s sister, said her brother is innocent. She said this all stems from some boys bullying her nephew.
“For him to roll up on the curb, he was wrong for rolling up on the curb but not to hit no kids,” Montoya Johnson said. “They done made my brother snap because she went to the lady and told her your kids is picking on my boy.”
Despite parents getting involved, Montoya said nothing was ever done about it, causing things to spiral out of control.
The victim’s mom said no disagreement is worth threatening a child’s life.
“You don’t do that,” Williams said. “You don’t hit no child like a dog in the street. That’s just something you don’t do.”
There are two sides to every story, but the apartment complex has security cameras to hopefully help police get to the bottom of what really happened.
