Teen Driver Who Hit Good Samaritans Was Sober: Family

DETROIT, MI — The teenage driver of a car that struck and critically injured two Good Samaritans on Interstate 96 in Detroit Sunday is almost a forgotten victim in the tragedy. Keith Martin, 17, of Southgate, is clinging to life, too, and his family wants to clear his name.

Martin was rounding a curve on I-96 near the Davison freeway exit around 7:50 a.m. Sunday when he lost control of his vehicle, striking Dr. Cynthia Ray, a physician at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and Sean English, a junior at University of Detroit Jesuit High School, police said. The Good Samaritans had stopped to assist six teenagers trapped in a Jeep after it rolled over.

In an initial report, Michigan State Police said alcohol may have been factor in the crash that critically injured Martin, Ray and English based on empty alcohol containers found in the vehicle Martin was driving. Toxicology test results were pending.

However, Martin’s family members said toxicology tests conducted at the hospital show the teen hadn’t been drinking. Martin was on his way to his job at a coney island restaurant when he lost control of his vehicle and hit the Good Samaritans.

“He was not intoxicated, which was proven by the toxicology reports. He is currently in critical condition and suffers with two brain bleeds and swelling of the brain,” the family said in a statement Tuesday.

(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Both the families of Ray and English have either visited Martin in the hospital or been in touch with his family, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“They sat and talked and hugged and cried,” Martin's uncle, Steve Toth, said after English’s family visited his nephew. “It’s such a relief that there’s no hate. I’m just overcome with joy.”

• See Also: Detroit Good Samaritans Critically Injured Helping Others | Heroic Teen Critically Hurt Rescuing Others: How To Help

Martin is on life support and his condition remains precarious, his uncle said, describing him as a good kid, “a young, enthusiastic boy who will light up a room with a smile.”

The teen’s relatives said he was the Good Samaritan about two months earlier. While driving home from work, he and another driver stopped to assist in another rollover accident on I-96.

“He's just the sweetest kid. He works. He hangs out with his girlfriend. This kid — he bought his little sister a concert ticket just to hang out with her,” Martin's aunt, Yvonne Razo of Redford, told the Free Press. “He doesn't think about himself. He’s very kind-hearted, and he’s always going out of his way for people.”

The teen’s girlfriend, Kaylee Welsh, told The Detroit News Martin was in the “wrong place” at the “wrong time.”

“I feel like everybody should be praying for every victim in this,” she said.

Photo via Shutterstock