ST. LOUIS — Courtney McKinley caught only a glimpse of the speeding car before it smashed into the side of the SUV he was driving early Sunday.
The next thing he saw was darkness. And he felt the SUV lift into the air and fall to the ground again.
McKinley was one of eight people in the SUV that crashed Sunday night after another vehicle ran a red light in the city's Midtown neighborhood, smashed into McKinley's SUV and sent it careening off an overpass.
Four people, including McKinley's older brother, Corntrail McKinley, 20, of St. Louis, and Bryanna Dentman-Johnson, 18, of Vinita Park, were killed in the crash. Courtney McKinley, 19, and three others were injured and taken to a hospital and listed as critical but stable.
The driver who hit their car fled the scene.
The crash upended the lives of the eight young friends riding together during a night out.
Dentman-Johnson, a senior at KIPP High School in St. Louis, was a fashion enthusiast who was thrilled to graduate and enroll in college.
"I miss her just coming to the door and telling me she was home from work," her mother, Stephanie Boyd, 38, said. "I keep breaking down in pieces. Just breaking down and crying."
Courtney McKinley, who asked to speak with a reporter from his hospital bed, said he and his brother were inseparable. They graduated from Vashon High School and moved into their own apartment. They both worked as merchandisers at Pespi Co.
"We did everything together," McKinley said. "We were always together."
Courtney McKinley had borrowed his mother's Chevrolet Tahoe to pick up friends on Sunday. He picked everyone up around 1 a.m. and headed to an ATM before deciding where to go next.
McKinley said he remembers exiting Interstate 64 (Highway 40) onto Forest Park Avenue and passing a green light.
"I passed the green light. I saw a little car — I don't remember the color," he said. "After I looked, it was just too late. I just saw all black. I felt when the car went up in to the air, when it fell. I felt everything."
The other vehicle, a 2004 Chevrolet Impala, was headed south on South Grand Boulevard and drove into the northbound lanes, around stopped traffic, to run a red light. It smashed into the SUV, which then went through a bridge guardrail and landed on its roof in the westbound lanes of Forest Park.
Courtney McKinley was trapped in the car until he saw a light in the corner. He crawled out, telling his friend to stay calm and to follow him.
He was in the hospital Monday with multiple wounds including a punctured and bruised lung and a fracture to his rib . But he said he wanted to talk to a reporter, primarily because he said he thought first responders took too long to remove his brother and the others trapped in the car.
His sister, Antonette Sutton, 21, shared several videos taken by an onlooker after the crash showing Courtney McKinley and others sitting on the ground while the Tahoe remained flipped on the roof and police were nearby.
"Everybody was just watching us," McKinley said. "We were on the ground, not getting helped."
Corntrail was the quieter of the two brothers; Courtney was outgoing and social, and he often pulled his brother out of his shell. Sunday was one of those times.
"He wouldn't really talk to you otherwise," McKinley said. "If you didn't meet him through me, you didn't really know him."
Corntrail was most excited about being a new father. His son, 2, was with Sutton at Courtney's side Monday.
"He was a full-time father," McKinley said. "He wanted to have more kids. He had plans for his future. He was going to get everything he wanted to."
The McKinley family launched a GoFundMe to help the family pay for burial and medical costs.
The McKinley brothers are a part of a large, close family, Sutton said. They have three older sisters, including Sutton, and three younger brothers.
Sutton said the family wants the driver to turn himself in.
"We feel like they should turn themselves in and be responsible for the eight kids that they left to die," Sutton said.
Dentman-Johnson was friends with the McKinley brothers and another girl who was wounded in the crash, said Boyd, her mother.
Dentman-Johnson worked her way through high school to save money to buy outfits and even designed her own logo she hoped to put on future creations, Boyd said.
"She was excited to go to prom and get her dress and all of that," Boyd said. "She only needed 1 1/2 (class) credits to graduate."
Dentman-Johnson was scheduled to graduate in May and had been accepted into Lindenwood University, Lincoln University, and Harris Stowe State-University, KIPP St. Louis said in a statement. Dentman-Johnson had been a KIPP student since fifth grade and had four younger siblings who also attend KIPP.
The school will award her mother an honorary degree and plans a celebration in her honor.
"Bryanna will be remembered for her thoughtful, calm and positive presence," the school said. "She always had a smile on her face, loved to express herself through fashion and was a support for her peers."
Dentman-Johnson had been working part-time jobs since she was 14, at different restaurants and at Six Flags, because she liked being independent, Boyd said. She was also saving money for her own car.
"She had to have a job," Boyd said. "Ever since she knew she could make her money. She was real independent."
"I knew that once she got out in the world that she would be OK."
She was kind and almost always in a good mood, Boyd said.
"She could never stay mad at anyone," Boyd said. "She was a very respectful girl, she always said 'Yes ma'am, no ma'am,' all of that. She had a good soul, a good heart."
Dentman-Johnson's family has launched a GoFundMe for burial and memorial costs. Boyd said she, too, hopes police find the hit-and-run driver soon.
"At the end of the day, because of all the kids that were involved, they need justice," Boyd said. "You fled the scene and without even caring about anybody's well being. I'm sure you looked over there and seen the car and knew exactly what happened. But you didn't try to help them or anything. You just ran."
Updated Tuesday with a GoFundMe for the family of Bryanna Dentman-Johnson
