Jacksonville Jaguars Community Report 2016-2017 | Page 24

The turning point came when he pulled
her by her hair and smashed her head
into wall after wall. He then put her,
my 6 month old brother and me in the
car and started driving with us not
having any idea of where he was
taking us. Luckily we ran out of gas.
As he was leaving to a nearby station,
he threatened my mother’s life if she
tried to run.

I wasn’t sure what to think. In my mind, all I knew was
this man was crazy, and we had no choice but to run.
My mother had me grab my brother’s diaper bag and
we ran down the freeway to the nearest exit. We called
my uncle to pick us up and he dropped us off at my
Grandmother’s house. That was the last time we ever
saw him.

- Marcedes Lewis and
his mother

My mother continued working and started attending
junior college to help build our lives back. She met
a man who later became my stepfather. The day I was
introduced to him, even though I was only eight years
old, I didn’t look like an eight year old, and I made sure
he knew I didn’t act like an eight year old either. I was
very protective of my mom and wasn’t going to let anyone do her any harm. I know I didn’t make it easy on
him at first, knowing all that my mom had already been
through, but in the end he was he was good for her and
became a good husband and stepfather.