Marc Smith figured he'd be back home in five minutes, tops.
Smith just moved to Atlanta from Chicago and had to run to the corner store to pick up a few things. With four kids at home, he knew he couldn't be gone too long.
And then, on his walk back home Thursday evening, he noticed the thick dark smoke and yellow caution tape. The I-85 bridge had collapsed, and four hours after his quick trip up the street, Smith still wasn't home.
"This is crazy, man," Smith said. "I really got to get home. My kids need me."
There were several people roaming the block of Piedmont Road between Lakeshore Drive and Adkins Drive on Thursday night looking for answers or looking for a place to go. Smith was one of them, and so was Kevin McKeithen.
McKeithen, a native of Washington, D.C. who moved to Atlanta about a year ago, is the manager of Play Pen, an adult novelty store on Piedmont Road.
It’s a good thing he remembered to lock the door to his business when police evacuated it and several other businesses near the bridge. Around 10 p.m., with his brick and mortar store just a few yards away, police wouldn’t let him cross the caution line to check on things.
"Well," McKeithen said, "I'm going to call the boss and head on home then."
Just before the bridge collapsed, McKeithen heard “a loud boom” and smelled smoke. He walked out the door with his cellphone in-hand, ready to film.
"It was crazy," McKeithen said. "Cars were driving right through the smoke."
He filmed for a few seconds, then felt the heat and ran back to his store.
"The fire started near the Goodwill and then just started spreading," McKeithen said. "It was all black here."
Credit: John Spink
Credit: John Spink
As it began to rain on the corner of Piedmont and Lakeshore late Thursday night, an officer approached and Smith pleaded his case to get an escort to his home so he could be with his children.
But, the officer said, with all the thick smoke and crews still working, he couldn't let Smith pass.
His oldest child is 13 and the youngest is two.
But Smith understood.
"I'm a retired firefighter," Smith said. "I've seen this sort of thing before, I just didn't expect to be on this side of it. I understand the job."
An officer returned from the flashing lights and dark clouds a few minutes later and gave Smith good news: He had been cleared to give him a lift in his patrol car back home. It’s not often folks are happy to be in the backseat of a police car, but in that moment, Smith was.
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