LEXINGTON, S.C. — The woman who died Tuesday after she was hit by a tractor trailer on I-20 has been identified. She had recently moved to Georgia from Nebraska and a family member reported her missing earlier in the day Tuesday.
"It was awful," Raymond Alford said.
Interstate-20 is constantly filled with cars, construction and accidents.
"The young lady hit us and jumped over in the left hand lane and took off like a bat out of somewhere," Alford said. "I may of went half a mile and started seeing debris."
Alford and his wife said they were hit by a car driven by 19-year-old Maliyah Smith. According to an incident report from the East Point Police Department in Georgia, on Tuesday Smith stole a white Ford F-150.
That same day a family member reported her missing. The incident report goes on to say Smith moved from Nebraska to Georgia and although she is not diagnosed with a mental illness the report said she had been acting strange since Saturday.
According to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department incident report, Smith ran out of gas in that white pick up truck near Gilbert. A man tried to help Smith and told deputies she was running around and asked him if he knew Jesus.
He also said she was not acting right and then grabbed his car keys out of his pocket and drove off before he could catch her.
13 miles down the road is when Alford's truck was hit by Smith, but what happened next is still a shock for him.
"A gentlemen stopped in front of me to help, he wasn't in the accident. The two of us went to the ladies car she said her chest was hurting," Alford said. "I told her to stand by my truck and we were going up the road to see if we could help anybody and we heard an engine revving and she jumped in his car to see if she could take it."
Alford said Smith couldn't get the other man's car to start because it was a stick shift. Then she ended up locking herself inside the car, so they busted her out of it and then she took off running.
Highway patrol said Smith attempted to jump onto a moving 18-wheeler and then was struck when she fell under the truck. Smith was transported to a hospital and died from her injuries.
All agencies involved said this case is still under investigation.