Motorist, Fleeing Police, Killed After Crashing into Stokeswood Avenue Home

Debbie Lighthall awoke to what she thought was a house fire in the front of her Stokeswood Avenue home.

"I just awoke to this huge crash," the East Atlanta Village homeowner said Friday morning. "I went to into my living room and saw the curtains were up and smoke billowing."

When she went outside, that's when she saw the silver Honda Prelude lodged into the foundation of her home.

The Prelude's driver rammed into Lighthall's home Thursday night, while trying to flee police.

The woman, whom police did not name pending notification of her family, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The car missed hitting Lighthall's gas line by six inches.

Lighthall, who is self-employed with a pet service and home cleaning business, said she is thankful her gas line wasn't hit because "it could've been so much worse."

But as a mother with a daughter of her own, Lighthall said all she could think about is the motorist's family.

"I feel really bad for her family," Lighthall said, her voice cracking. "I was thinking about her mom and that young face."

Atlanta police say an officer saw her driving erratically and failing to stay in her lane, just after 10:30 p.m. as the motorist headed north on Moreland Avenue.

The officer checked the license plate registration which returned information regarding that there was an outstanding drug-related warrant issued in Cobb County.

When he tried to pull her over, she she made a right turn onto Pendelton Street and sped away, blowing through a stop sign.

But Pendleton Street ends at Stokeswood Avenue. Lighhall's home faces that intersection.

"She woke up a couple of times, but she was out of it," Lighthall said.

Police and emergency responders used the Jaws of Life to pull her from the Prelude, but she succumbed to her injuries at the scene.