Pedestrian struck by car on Ga. 247

Nancy McClellan was pouring a cup of Dr Pepper when she saw a man go flying into the air outside her kitchen window.

Shortly after 11 a.m., lunchtime traffic was picking up in the 5600 block of Hawkinsville Road and Pine Acres Mobile Home Park, where McClellan lives.

Norma Hendricks, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was headed home from a visit with her son when Peter DeNigris stepped into the path of her Ford Focus as it passed McClellan’s home.

The 63-year-old DeNigris hit the windshield, cracking the glass and leaving a dent on the passenger side of the sedan.

McClellan watched from the window, fearing the man was dead.

“That was a shock. It kinda went in slow motion,” she said.

Hendricks said she tried to stop, but when she hit the brakes, it was too late.

“When I got out of the car and asked if he was OK, he wouldn’t respond to me,” Hendricks said. “Then he jumped up and started cussing.”

People tried to calm him down, but he was using racial slurs and asking for a ride downtown, McClellan said.

“The paramedics had to wrestle him just to calm him down,” she said. “He was fighting the paramedics.”

DeNigris was taken by ambulance to Medical Center, Navicent Health, with what appeared to be an injury to his arm.

Hendricks was not injured, but was shaken up by the accident.

“I had two witnesses who said he walked into the road,” she said. “I just thank God he’s alive and I’m alive.”

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the accident. The driver was not charged.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Pedestrian struck by car on Ga. 247."