‘I want to live’: Lyft driver who helped Georgia teen left for dead says he clinged to life
A 19-year-old was barely alive when a Lyft driver found him moments after a motorist struck him and left him in the road to die
A 19-year-old was barely alive when a Lyft driver found him moments after a motorist struck him and left him in the road to die
A Lyft driver in coastal Georgia who helped a teen victim of a hit-and-run driver says the victim was repeatedly chanting “I want to live” as he lay bleeding in the road.
Shaequan Seabrook recalls that as she drove up on the young man on Sunday morning left in the road bleeding, he seemed to be showing his will to live.
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“He was literally trying to keep himself alive by just saying, ‘I want to live, I want to live, I just want to play basketball, I want to go to the NBA,’ ” Seabrook told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of how she came upon Rilyn Ellis, 19, in the dark of the early morning in Glynn County, Ga.
Seabrook said she was on her way to pick up someone when she spotted Ellis, blood pouring from his head.
“I can’t even think of what was going through his mind as he was lying there in the dark,” she said. “It’s just traumatic.”
Seabrook told the AJC that she immediately ran over to Ellis and called for help.
“The back of his head was pouring blood — he could not move,” she said. “It was horrible.”
She added, “It was just a horrible sight that someone would literally hit him and drag him down the street and leave him for dead,” she said.
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Ellis’ family told the news organization that the teen suffered a fractured neck, broken legs and a broken arm.
Another teen — 19-year-old Michael Harris — was arrested in the alleged hit-and-run. Harris remained in jail this week with no bond, the AJC reported.
Action News Jacksonville released a photo of Ellis in the hospital, collar around his neck, cast on his arm and eyes closed. It also released a mugshot of Harris, the alleged hit-and-run driver, who appears to be smirking in the photo.
NEW: Here is the booking info & mug shot for the suspect, Michael Harris, 19. Glynn police say he hit Rilyn Ellis (pictured in the hospital) & left him for dead. @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/gk7GVyCsmN
— Russell Colburn (@RussellANjax) July 10, 2019
Seabrook questioned Harris’ humanity, the AJC reports.
“How could you just drag someone down the street and go to bed at night like nothing ever happened?” she asked.
