SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Kindergarten and first-grade students in Linda Davis’ class sobbed and cried after being told their teacher wouldn’t be returning. The teacher greets them most mornings with a contagious smile.
Davis, 52, was killed Monday morning while commuting, less than a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from the school where she taught students with special needs. Local and federal authorities said a Guatemalan man crashed his pickup truck into Davis’ car while fleeing a traffic stop from immigration officials.
“It’s very difficult to tell 5- and 6-year-olds that the teacher they love and cherish is not coming back to see them,” said Alonna McMullen, principal of Herman W. Hesse K-8 School in south suburban Savannah. “It breaks my heart to see the looks on their faces.”
Teachers in Hesse tried to create a normal routine for their students Thursday, but their grief lingered.
Many people drive past the accident site every day on their way to and from school, where a cross made of red roses and bouquets of flowers is placed in the center. A card on the ground read: “RIP Dr. Davis, Power.”
Students in two of Davis’ special education classes drew pictures of her to help cope with the news of her death. Teachers created a banner in her honor and displayed it at the school’s home basketball game on Thursday.
“The vacuum of compounded grief”
Davis began teaching at Hessian when the school year began in September. Her upbeat personality and dedication to helping students with special needs thrive quickly endeared her to teachers and students alike.
“She knew how to make even the most difficult students shine,” McMullen told reporters.
Davis has been teaching in the Savannah area since 2022. Outside of work, she raised four children on her own and served as guardian to a fifth, according to her sister, Felicia Jackson.
“The sudden, violent and preventable loss of her presence and love created a vacuum of compounded grief so vast that it feels like it fills the Mariana Trench,” Jackson said in a social media post.
Davis, who was nearly 6 feet tall, “filled her house with laughter and music,” said Jackson, who recalled how her sister loved singing Disney songs and show tunes “at her best” with the children.
“This was Linda: energetic, engaged, loving,” Jackson wrote.
Local officials question whether ICE manhunt is necessary
Federal immigration officials have faced increasing scrutiny for their aggressive tactics amid the Trump administration’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration, especially since their shooting deaths of Renee Goode and Alex Pretty in Minneapolis.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson and Chatham County Commission Chairman Chester Ellis questioned whether the pursuit that led to Davis’ death was necessary.
U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement spokesperson Lindsay Williams said the getaway driver had no criminal record but was in the U.S. illegally.
Surveillance video outside the school Monday morning showed a red pickup truck speeding past the school, followed seconds later by two law enforcement vehicles with lights flashing.
Authorities identified the driver of the truck as 38-year-old Oscar Vasquez Lopez. He suffered minor injuries and was jailed on charges including vehicular homicide and driving without a license, according to police.
Williams said ICE officers stopped Lopez to serve on an immigration judge’s 2024 deportation order, and when officers approached his vehicle, Lopez drove off. ICE said in a news release that Lopez hit Davis’ car after making a U-turn and running a red light.
“He is presumed innocent and the court process will determine the outcome,” said Don Plummer, spokesman for the Georgia Public Defenders Board, which has an attorney representing Lopez.