Friends of Ahem "Ahmen" Holloman, one of two drivers charged in the deadly accident on Roosevelt Boulevard that killed a mother and three of her children late Tuesday night, are speaking out. They say, Holloman was not racing, that he had nothing to do with the accident and that his own mother was killed on the Boulevard when he was just a boy.
"He's like a brother to me. He told me he had nothing to do with that. He wasn't racing, he was speeding, he ain't gone lie," said Holloman's friend, William Torres. "He told me he might've cut a car or two but that car that pulled up and passed him, he didn't know where it came from," Torres said.
The car Torres is referring to is the 2012 Audi that police say was traveling southbound on the Boulevard at a high rate of speed when it lost control, and struck and killed 28 year-old Samara Selena Banks, 7-month-old Saamir Williams, 23-month-old Saa-Sean and four-year-old Saa-Deem.
Police say the driver of the Audi, Khusen Akhmedov, 23, of Lancaster City, Pa. was street racing with Holloman when his car lost control. Torres says Holloman did not know the other driver and is not into racing at all.
"They keep showing all of these videos saying he had something to do with racing. There was no race. That guy was driving reckless, that's what that guy was doing, driving reckless. Now he's trying to involve my friend by saying he was racing. It's just not true. He did not hit the pedestrians, he called 911," he said.
Torres says Holloman was on his way to his house when the accident occurred.
"He was on his way to my house so he was already about to get off at my exit at 3rd and the Boulevard, because I live down the block. The guy flew by him and tossed him back into the middle lane and from there on he said that's where all that tragedy happened," Torres said.
Samantha Metzgar, Holloman's girlfriend of two years and mother of his nine month-old son said Holloman returned to the scene to help the victims.
"He's the one who got out of the car, ran over to the lady and he dialed 911.The 911 call is still in the phone," she said.
"Other people were there, they didn't call 911, he did. Anybody else would've kept on going; he didn't," Torres said.
Holloman is facing four counts of homicide by vehicle, third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. He also faces reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, simple assault and aggravated assault by vehicle charges. One day after his arrest, police came back to seize Holloman's car and to search his home. According to a source close to the investigation who did not want to be named because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the case, investigators were searching for equipment used to enhance a car's speed and performance.
According to Torres, the incident is especially difficult for Holloman because his own mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident after getting off of a bus on the Boulevard. Holloman was 13 years-old when that happened.
"What hurt him even worse was that his mom got killed in a hit-and-run, so its like seeing all that tragedy, and he's getting blamed too; it's just a lot," he said.
Metzger says Holloman is a good guy.
"He's a caring person and he would do anything for anybody. Somebody else who saw this would've kept going. He's a caring person and deep down in his heart he would never want to hurt anybody, period."