Savage was injured when his four-wheeler and a truck collided on Tuggle Street on Monday evening.
His mom, Kimberly Kent, said, “I was at home cleaning, and he was out on the four-wheeler. We had just gotten it out early as a surprise for his birthday, and he had begged to go ride it.”
About 8 p.m. Kent learned from neighbors that her son had been in an accident.
“When I got there, he was lying there on the ground with a neck brace,” she said.
Kent recalled the accident which injured her son and passenger Jasmine Roger, 14, of Cox Street.
“We had told him he could go ride with his friends, and they were up at the church yard where there are some ramps and a lot of space. He was riding his friend, Jasmine, when they came up the hill, and he saw the truck flying up the road,” she said.
Police said the ATV passed through some bushes as the truck approached.
Kent said her son told her, “All I could see was that Jasmine was going to get hurt, so I moved backward to try to knock her off so she wouldn’t get hurt, and next thing I know I was flying through the air.”
The truck driver, Angel Acevedo-Paniagua, 25, of Barnard Avenue, told police he couldn’t stop in time to avoid the collision.
Kent said, “Our neighborhood tries to keep an eye on each other’s children. The area has a bad rap it has earned, but we love our kids and we all watch each other’s kids. There were some people around watching the kids ride, and someone hollered down when Josh got hit by the truck.”
Although her son had been instructed to wear a helmet and use safety precautions, neither Savage nor Roger were wearing helmets, she said.
“Accidents happen. Kids, adults too, need to make sure that they wear helmets when riding bikes and ATVs, because you never know what is going to happen,” Kent said. “Josh has learned the hard way the importance of following the rules and wearing a helmet.”
Savage is at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.
“He is stable, talking, eating and breathing on his own,” Kent said Wednesday. “The skin on his leg was snatched off when the truck hit, and the doctors had to reconstruct it. There was no torn ligaments or broken bones.”
His doctors told Kent that her son should make a full recovery after doing physical therapy.
Kent was appreciative of all who expressed concern and support.
“People just need to be cautious and need to make sure their kids are cautious.” She whispered, “The doctor said that God had his hands all over Josh.”
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