Son of actor from ‘The Wire’ thrown 300 feet by Georgia tornado. ‘Wish it was me’
An actor best known for his work on “The Wire” is asking for prayers after his son was thrown several hundred feet from their Georgia home during a tornado.
Tray Chaney, who played “Poot” on the hit HBO series, said his 18-year-old son, Malachi Chaney, suffered broken ribs and a fractured bone in his face after the twister touched down Thursday, May 29, near Locust Grove, WANF reported.
The teen was found 300 feet away in the woods behind the house, his dad said. He remained in the ICU on May 30 with his mother and father at his side.
“I can’t get myself together right now I wish it was me that was in ICU rather than him,” Tray Chaney said in a statement posted on his Instagram page. “I crawled from under my house with a big knot on my head, vomiting but his injuries are much more (worse).”
Tray Chaney also shared video of the damage, showing a pile of rubble and debris where the family’s home once stood.
The tornado struck at about 3:30 p.m, carving a path just west of Interstate 75 between Locust Grove and McDonough, Keith Stellman, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service’s Atlanta office, told McClatchy News. Crews were still assessing the damage as of May 30.
Much of the Atlanta metro area was under severe weather alerts the afternoon of May 29, including a tornado warning for Henry County, according to NWS Atlanta.
Tray Chaney said what began as a fun day with his son was suddenly upended by the violent storm.
“I was unconscious on the ground with my face in the mud with parts of my house on top of me,” he wrote, recalling the frightening incident. “I woke up in a panic crawled from under my house screaming my son’s name out.”
“Hug your loved ones now,” Tray Chaney wrote. “Life just changed for me & mine! We’ll never be the same.”
Locust Grove is about a 40-mile drove southeast from downtown Atlanta.