Survivor of Crash That Killed 3 High School Teens Wakes Up From Coma

(L-R) Naseer Alwakeel, Brandon Martinez, and Nelson Umanzor. (Photos courtesy of Meadowcreek High School, friend, family)

A survivor of a severe crash in Gwinnett County, Georgia, is out of a coma, his family said.

“He’s breathing on his own,” Alexander Allen, the father of crash victim 17-year-old Mesiah Allen, told WSB. “He’s talking on his own.”

Mesiah suffered a broken leg, bruises, and cuts from a crash on Friday night, Oct. 27, that left three Gwinnett County high school students dead.

Brandon Martinez, 18, Nelson Umanzor, 18, and Naseer Alwakeel, 16, died in the crash, according to AJC.com.

Mesiah was in critical condition for three days at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville.

“He remembers the impact,” his father said. “He remembers hitting everything. He remembers being down there. He remembers his leg was broken.”

“He saw one of his friends laying there. He kept telling him to get up and he wouldn’t move.”

The father said that the boy survived because he was wearing a seatbelt.

“I 100 percent believe that’s the reason why he survived,” he told Channel 2. “He was still hanging in the seat belt when they cut him out.”

According to local reports, the teens were leaving a high school football game and crashed 10:16 p.m. local time on Friday. Martinez was driving a Toyota 4 Runner and approached a slower vehicle, swerving right to avoid hitting it. The car then hit a guardrail and flew into the air, hitting a tree.

Martinez’s speed was being investigated as a possible factor contributing to the accident, officials told Patch.com.

Gwinnett County Schools issued a statement: “The students involved in the accident, three seniors and one junior, have been very involved at the school. We know the loss of three of these young, promising lives will be difficult for students and staff, alike. ... In the meantime, our prayers are with all of these students’ families and the Meadowcreek community as they deal with this loss.”