Fallen tree traps metro woman in a car as she waited for her son to be dismissed from school

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Chauntae Horton was waiting for her son to get out of school just like every other day when a large tree and power lines came down on her car, trapping her inside.

The large tree once stood near the intersection of Ansley Street and King’s Highway in Decatur.

Horton was parked near this intersection, as she always does, waiting for her son to get out of school.

She didn’t know what hit her when the huge tree came crashing down on her car with her inside.

“There’s no way I would have thought in a million years that I would have probably never made it back home just from going to get my son,” said Horton.

Parking on Ansley Street and waiting in her car for her son to get out of Renfroe Middle School is part of her weekday routine.

Horton remembers the sounds she heard just moments before.

“I heard cracking. Immediately, cracking,” said Horton.

Horton had no idea what was going on.

“I heard boom and my whole car was covered.”

The huge tree came crashing down on her just minutes before school let out.

“I was screaming and yelling. I didn’t know if anyone heard me,” said Horton.

The tree wasn’t the only danger as it knocked down power lines as well.

“I heard somebody say, ‘It’s live wires, the wires are live, we have to move her immediately, it’s unsafe,’” said Horton.

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A neighbor and a teacher ignored the danger and pulled her out of the car. Horton says she was about to step out of the car just before the tree came down. She is thankful she didn’t.

“I’m so blessed. I’m so blessed. I’m here. I’m breathing. I’m able to speak on it.”

Horton thinks that had the tree come down a few minutes later it could have been so much worse. Lots of children walk by the spot daily when school lets out.

Horton says if she had stepped out of her car she would have really suffered serious injury or been killed.

She’s sore and has some bumps and bruises. Her car is totaled but she says she is still here and she is blessed and thankful for that.

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