NEW ORLEANS — A teenage boy is fighting for his life after an SUV slammed into the home where he was sleeping.
Police say the driver who plowed through a fence and into the house allegedly failed a sobriety test.
It was a call no mother ever expected to get. Cierra Patterson's mother called her, saying: "'Jamal is under the car' and I didn't know what she was saying and I am like 'what [are] you talking about,' and she just kept saying 'Jamal is under the car'."
15-year-old Jamal Jackson Jr. was lying peacefully in bed, unaware of the chaos about to erupt. His mother Cierra Patterson said, "At four o'clock in the morning you don't expect something like that to be going, your child is at home [sleeping], ain't no way he should be going through [this] now when he was sleeping."
NOPD says the SUV was driven by 54-year-old Cedrick Marshall. Marshall tore through Jamal's grandmother's home, Alicia Patterson in New Orleans East. Police say it happened around 4 a.m. Sunday, and Marshall was arrested after allegedly failing a field sobriety test.
Jamal's grandmother said, “All I heard was a shhhh and a boom and I jumped up and I went to screaming.”
Now what remains are scattered bits of the fence the SUV plowed through. Jamal's school community is holding on to hope, their prayers intertwined for the teen's recovery.
Jamar McKneely CEO of InspireNOLA Charter Schools says this incident is hurting everyone. McKneely said, "We had some of our staff go to the hospital, they've been there, staff member has prayed with the family."
He went on to say, "He's affecting two schools, not only was he at McDonogh 35 last year but now he's a student at Edna Karr school."
Jamal is on the drill team, his former coach and teacher Kipp Chopin told WWL Louisiana, "Jamal was a very studious individual he always asked questions he was never one to shy away from a challenge as far as in the classroom, he was very overall wonderful student to have."
He said Jamal was always smiling and was the kind of student who was a friend to everyone inside and outside of the classroom. Chopin said, "We act as one unit, so with a lot of different things... He became a part of a distinct family we have over here."
Cierra Patterson said she will never forget the call she got that Sunday morning, saying, "This is really sad my child was a good child, he [doesn't] get into know trouble, he [doesn't] hang with people, he stays inside, that's like his comfort zone."
Jamal's sense of security ripped away in a matter of seconds, and remnants of his once comfort zone were strewn across the lawn.
Coach Chopin says there will be a moment of silence for Jamal at Sunday's band practice.
Marshall was booked on First Degree of Vehicular Negligent Injury and Reckless Operation after he was released from the hospital. Court documents show Marshall's bond was set for $105,000 and at last check, he remains behind bars.