ST. LOUIS — The survivor of a deadly Sunday morning car crash speaks out about the moment his life changed at a dangerous St. Louis intersection.
"Every time I close my eyes, I see it," 19-year-old Courtney McKinley said.
Tears stream down McKinley's face.
He's bruised, battered and struggling to remember the scare of his life.
"I can't move my arm. It hurt. I have a bone in my shoulder now just sticking up," McKinley said shortly after he was released from a hospital Monday.
McKinley said just after 1 a.m. Sunday, he, his 20-year-old brother, Corntrail McKinley and six of their friends were heading out to have fun.
Courtney said he was driving his mother's Chevy Tahoe down Forest Park Avenue in Midtown St. Louis when a car slammed into them.
Police say traffic cameras show a driver in a Chevy Impala drove into the northbound lanes to go around traffic, ran a red light and crashed into the westbound Tahoe.
"Yeah, I was trapped," recalled McKinley.
He and the others were trapped after police said the Tahoe knocked out a guardrail, went airborne and landed upside down on its roof on Forest Park Avenue.
"It just happened so fast. I rushed to the scene, and nobody was telling me anything. I kept asking the police, the firefighters, the paramedics where is Corntrail? Where is my other son? I'm his mother, but I didn't find out that my other child died until my sister told me hours later. Those officers were more concerned with the guns they saw fly out of my car. Yes, there were five guns at that scene, but all of the guns were legally registered. I just think those cops should have shown more concern and care for my sons and their friends," said McKinley's mom, Shanta Lucius.
"Everybody was yelling can you all help us? Help us," said the young driver.
Courtney admits he wasn't wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
After the wreck, he crawled out the banged-up car.
His brother, who had a two-year-old son, and three friends all died. Three other friends were injured.
"All of them were like my people you know. It's just crazy. I woke up in the hospital like dang it's really real," Courtney said.
A 5 On Your Side crew rode by the crash site and saw a big chunk of the damaged guardrail was still missing.
Workers were starting to repair it before our crew left the area.
Meantime, police are still looking for the driver of the Chevy Impala.
Police said after the wreck, he ran off.
City officials call Forest Park and South Grand "one of the most dangerous intersections in the city."
The city is working on a plan to improve traffic safety.
It calls for a 40-million-dollar overhaul of 10 "high-risk intersections."
"People are in critical condition and four young people lost their lives. Traffic safety if important," St. Louis Alderman Joe Vaccaro of the 23rd Ward said.
"Man, I swear to God I thought I was dying slowly," Courtney said.
McKinley said he suffered multiple injuries including fractured ribs, an injured spine, a dislocated shoulder, cuts and bruises.
He also said as of Monday night only one of his friends remains in a hospital.