DETROIT – Keon Smith, a 10-year-old from Highland Park, is being called a hero after he and his 4-year-old brother found help for their mother when she needed it.
" didn’t want to see my mama hurt,” Keon said. “It was scary for all of the blood to be on her face, so I told her, ‘I am going to the Coney Island to get somebody’s phone and get help.’”
Detroit police said Keon’s mother, 27-year-old Shaquita Smith, suffered injuries to her head Wednesday morning after she got into an argument with her sister.
Keon and his brother, Leslie Jameer, witnessed it.
“My auntie threw a glass bottle at my mama’s head and back,” Keon said.
Smith and her children left the home, but because of her injuries, Smith had trouble driving. The car was also having mechanical problems.
The family ended up stranded in front of Grandy’s Coney Island at Division and 14th streets.
“I was cooking and in walk these two kids around 4 in the morning saying their mama was bleeding and they
needed a phone,” said Samuel Johnson, the restaurant’s overnight cook.
Johnson went to the car to try to help.
“She couldn’t stay conscious. I kept talking to her to keep her awake, (and I was) flagging down police,” Johnson said.
Keon had his great-grandmother’s phone number memorized and used a phone to call her. She came to pick them up while an ambulance took their mother to a hospital.
“I am so proud of them,” said Derotha Parker, the boys’ great-grandmother. “I teach them and their mother teaches them that when something goes wrong and they need to find help. There was no reason for them to let their mother bleed to death.”
Smith is expected to be OK.
Keon’s advice for other children is simple: "They need to know their phone number and remember their phone number and they need to ask for help when somebody’s in danger,” he said.