ATLANTA — Less than a day after a police pursuit in Atlanta’s Little 5 Points neighborhood claimed the life of an innocent driver, another family sat in a Fulton County courtroom Tuesday, reliving a similar tragedy from one year ago.

Charles Atkins gave emotional testimony about the loss of his daughter, Tamara Taylor, a mother of three who was killed in April 2024 when a driver fleeing police ran a red light at high speed and crashed into her vehicle at the intersection of Campbellton and Barge Roads.

“I saw like a body laying in the grass,” Atkins told the court, recalling the moment he unknowingly drove past the scene of the fatal crash. He said he realized the heartbreaking truth only after getting a phone call. “The phone rang, and they said that Tam was dead.”

Taylor had been on her way to pick up dinner and surprise her mother for her birthday when the crash occurred.

The man accused in the case, Ryan Hicks, is now on trial facing multiple charges, including felony murder and evading police.

Prosecutors say Hicks was traveling 97 miles per hour when he ran the red light and struck Taylor’s car.