Trip for teeth turns into fiery escape

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It began as a family trip from Bartow County to South Carolina to get some dentures.

It ended with David and Sarah Jo King and their two daughters escaping a fiery van by the skin of their teeth after the vehicle’s tire exploded along I-75.

“You could hear it. I knew exactly what it was,” Stefanie King, 28, said from her younger sister’s Michelle’s hospital room. “It was the only tire we didn’t change. And it blew.”

The family — lucky to be alive — relived their ordeal Thursday at Grady Hospital where they were taken for treatment.

The Kings were about an hour into the early-morning trip from their Taylorsville home on July 6. The purpose of the trip was to get dentures for Sarah Jo, according to Stefanie.

“It was going be just $500 for uppers and lowers and extractions. It was a good deal,” she said. “We were gonna make a kinda vacation out of it.”

After a quick stop to pick up breakfast, Stefanie King got her shitsu Goldie out of her cage.

Back on the road about 6 a.m., the unthinkable happened. The back left tire exploded.

David King quickly pulled the family’s 2000 Dodge Caravan over the side of the interstate. Seconds later, the van burst into flames, likely because the exploded tire hit the gas tank, according to the man who towed the vehicle away.

David King made it out of the van first and Michelle, 26, followed. But Sarah Jo’s physical disabilities made it impossible for her, seated on the front passenger side, to get out. Stefanie King was seated behind her mother.

“My door usually sticks, and that’s what made me think to push my mama out,” she said.

As six City of Marietta police officers arrived at the scene, near Delk Road, a camera mounted on one patrol car’s dashboard captured the dramatic scene and the sisters’ frantic pleas for help.

“The van was already fully engulfed,” said Officer Dontay Garnigan Thursday night, recalling the accident. “The training kicked in. We prepare for situations. We were blessed to be in the situation to help another family.”

Sgt. Tim Lemming, a 13-year veteran of the force, said multiple calls came in reporting the fire. Fortunately, officers were in close proximity to scene. Lemming credits the family for quickly helping each other out of the burning van.

“Had they not done that, I don’t even want to think of what would have happened,” he said.

The officers helped save the small dog, too.

David King suffered burns on his arm and Stefanie had a minor burn on an arm. But Sarah Jo and Michelle suffered extensive burns to their legs and feet.

On Monday, Michelle had surgery — skin grafts on a foot. Wednesday, Sarah Jo endured surgery to repair a shoulder damaged from being pulled from the van. Both are expected to recover, but the family knows it’s going to take time.

“We are so grateful,” said Stefanie, who had planned to head to California for college next month, just weeks after her parents’ 30th wedding anniversary on Aug. 10. Now, she isn’t sure if she’ll go.

In addition to the serious injuries, the family now is in a tougher position financially. They had only liability insurance on the van and it’s a total loss, according to Fred King, David’s older brother.

“They’ve got a truck, but that’s the only family car they had,” Fred King said. “Can’t everybody ride in that pickup truck.”

Stefanie and David have been at Grady around the clock since the incident, and the cost of eating takeout food and gas money adds up.

“It’s not something we planned in a budget,” Stefanie King said.

Fred King has set up an account at the Bartow County Bank for those who want to help the King family. He said the family’s church may hold a fund raiser.

“I don’t know what these bills are gonna be. Medicare’s just gonna go just so far.” Fred King said. “Maybe they can get back on their feet soon, literally.”

But after all the family has been through, these are minor obstacles, Stefanie King said. The family is grateful for the help they received from the police officers. But above all, they believe their faith helped save their lives.

“I think it was a good thing,” Stefanie King said. “It brought us closer to the Lord.”