Flames shot into the sky Tuesday night as Burnise Watson watched her car burn.
Watson collided with Erin Domaracki’s car at 11:16 p.m. on her way home from work at Merricks Group Home. s
Watson’s Toyota SUV flipped onto its side at the intersection of SW 13th Street and SW 16th Avenue and immediately burst into flames – with her and her 1-year-old granddaughter inside, she said.
That’s when Dequavius Wiggins started to run.
Wiggins, 21, is an employee at Steak ‘n Shake and a transfer student at Santa Fe College. He said he and another Steak ‘n Shake employee helped Watson and her granddaughter, Ziyari Smith, out of the car. He said it was instinct.
“I just reacted,” he said. “The car could have blown up. I could have blown up with it.”
Domaracki said her head, chest, left arm, knees and abdomen hurt, but she was not transported to a hospital, according to the GPD accident report. Watson said she and Ziyari are OK, but she complained of chest pain.
Damages to both vehicles are estimated to be $8,000, according to the report.
Watson said the light was green for her when she drove westbound on SW 16th Avenue and into the intersection. But Domaracki disagreed, saying the light was green for her on SW 13th Street when she tried to turn west onto SW 16th Avenue and collided with Watson.
Due to conflicting accounts, neither Watson nor Domaracki were issued a citation, according to the report.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 10/2/2014]
