A Georgia teen who received a controversial heart transplant died on Tuesday after an alleged crime spree ended in a fatal car accident.
The 17-year-old Anthony Stokes’ story garnered national attention when he was rejected for a heart transplant by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for behavioral issues and for refusing to obey doctors’ orders. Activists called the hospital’s decision a “death sentence.”
Stokes had been diagnosed with a dilated cardiomyopathy, meaning his heart was too large and weak to pump enough blood, when he was 15. Stokes received the life saving transplant in August 2013 after national outcry brought light to the issue, with activists saying he was discriminated against for his past and for being poor and black.
The teen, who was reportedly wearing a court-order ankle bracelet for past crimes at the time of his diagnosis, pledged to clean up his act after his transplant.
However, his second chance ended abruptly on Tuesday when police say he carjacked a vehicle and shot an elderly woman while attempting to rob her.
“A lady said a person kicked in the door to break into the house. She was inside the living room and saw the suspect, who was wearing a mask,” Lisa Holland, of the Roswell Police Department told WSB-TV.
A high speed chase followed the attempted robbery, during which Stokes stuck a 33-year-old pedestrian with the stolen Honda he was driving and then went into a tailspin and plowed into a pole.
“He did a fishtail spin going around to the right and hit a pedestrian. I saw a white shirt fly up in the air,” witness Claudia Kuklis told WSB-TV.
Stokes had to be cut from the wreckage and later died an Atlanta-area hospital.
The pedestrian Stokes hit, Clementina Hernandez, was also hospitalized but in stable condition.