What was supposed to be one of the happiest nights of the school year turned into a frightening ride home, with teenagers pleading for a limo driver to stop while parents waited for updates that grew more alarming by the minute.
In a report for WSB-TV, Tom Jones said a group of 10 teens on their way home from prom in Cherokee County said they were so scared inside the limo that they begged the driver to pull over. By the end of the night, the driver, Nelson Baba, had been arrested on DUI and marijuana charges, and furious parents were left asking how any of this was allowed to happen.
That is what makes this story hit so hard. Prom is supposed to be one of those carefully planned, picture-perfect nights parents worry over for weeks, but usually for all the normal reasons. The dress, the tux, the flowers, the timing.
Instead, according to Jones’ report, these families ended up fearing something much worse.
The Ride Started Going Wrong Before It Was Even Over
Tom Jones reported that one of the teens described the night as “crazy,” which sounds almost too mild for what followed.
According to the teen who spoke to WSB-TV, Baba was already off schedule before the students even made it to prom. She said he showed up an hour late to pick them up and got lost on the way to the Georgia Aquarium.
That alone would have been enough to frustrate most parents who had hired a limo for a special occasion.
But the ride home, as Jones told it, is where the situation turned from disorganized to frightening.
The teen said the moment the group got back into the limo after prom, something felt wrong.
“The moment we stepped into the limo, the putrid smell of weed whiffs off our noses,” she told WSB-TV.
That is the kind of detail nobody expects to hear from a prom story. It instantly changed the tone of the night from awkward inconvenience to possible danger.
Teens Say They Knew They Were Not Safe
Jones reported that the teenagers said Baba smelled strongly of marijuana and was acting in a way that made them fear for their safety.
According to the WSB-TV report, the teens said he could not find his way back to Cherokee County even though he had GPS directions. They also said he drove erratically.
One of the parents, Kimberly O’Neill, told Jones that the fear inside the limo became clear when a message came through around 10:30 p.m.
“We get a text around 10:30 says this guy’s going to kill us,” O’Neill said.
That sentence is chilling because it strips away all the adult framing and gets straight to what the teens were feeling in the moment. They were not annoyed. They were not simply uncomfortable. They were scared enough to believe they might not get home safely.
And when a group of teens in formal clothes is texting parents in panic from inside a hired limo, the whole idea of “special transportation” falls apart instantly.
The Students Finally Got Him To Stop
Jones said the teens kept begging Baba to pull over.
According to the report, he finally stopped at a QuikTrip in Holly Springs, where the students were able to get out and their parents later picked them up.
That gas station stop seems to have been the turning point.
As Jones reported, deputies searched the limo after Baba pulled in. Parent Kimberly O’Neill told WSB-TV, “They searched the limo and found what they found.”
Deputies said they found marijuana, and according to the report, Baba told them he had bought it while the teens were at prom.
That detail is especially hard to overlook. If that account is accurate, then the driver was not just accused of showing up impaired. He was allegedly using time during the event to buy marijuana while responsible for transporting a car full of teenagers.
It is hard to imagine a better example of recklessness than that.
The Arrest Only Deepened The Parents’ Anger
Tom Jones reported that Baba was arrested for DUI drugs and marijuana possession.
The WSB-TV report also said deputies claimed he failed a field sobriety test and could not recite the alphabet. On top of that, deputies said he did not have valid certificates to operate a vehicle for hire or to drive a limo.
That last part opens up another disturbing layer.
Because this story is not only about one driver allegedly making dangerous choices. It is also about the system around him, and whether the adults who hired the service were given the full truth about who would actually be behind the wheel.
Jones said the parents sought a full refund from the limo company they paid, but were upset when that did not happen.
According to the report, the owner of Price A Limo said Baba actually worked for another limo company and offered to charge only half price because the first leg of the trip had gone as planned.
The parents strongly disagreed with that.
They told WSB-TV the first part of the trip did not go as planned, and they said they had never been told Baba worked for anyone else. In their view, they had done business with Price A Limo, not with a subcontracted driver they had never vetted themselves.
That is an important point, because when parents hire a limo for their kids, they are not just buying a vehicle. They are buying trust.
“Nobody Should Have The Right To Put Our Kids In Danger”
Tom Jones’ report included one of the most emotional moments from the parents.
Laura Legrand told WSB-TV, “I hope I never meet that limo driver in person again because I won’t be able to contain myself. Nobody should have the right to put our kids in danger.”
That anger feels understandable.
Parents can accept a lot of things going wrong on prom night. A late pickup. A traffic jam. Even bad weather. But what they cannot accept is the idea that the person hired to protect and transport their children may have put them at risk instead.
What stands out here is how ordinary this all must have seemed at the start. A prom night. A limo. A group of excited seniors. These are familiar pieces of a very familiar rite of passage.
Then suddenly it becomes a police matter at a gas station.
That is why stories like this stay with people. They remind you how fast a polished plan can fall apart when the one adult in charge is the wrong person.
A Celebration Became A Warning
By the end of his report, Jones said the parents are now urging others to do extensive research before renting a limo.
That advice may sound obvious after the fact, but this case suggests even families who thought they had done the right thing may not have known everything they needed to know.
A company name on a booking does not always tell you who will actually be driving. A nice vehicle does not prove the driver is qualified. And a big event like prom can create a false sense of security simply because it feels formal and planned.
In reality, those teens only got home safely because they recognized the danger, kept pushing for the driver to stop, and got help.
That is worth saying plainly. Their instincts may have saved them from something worse.
Tom Jones’ WSB-TV report captured a night that should have ended with tired smiles, phone photos, and stories about prom dresses and dance music. Instead, it ended at a QuikTrip with deputies, frightened teenagers, and parents rushing to pick up kids who had expected a celebration, not a crisis.
It is the kind of story that leaves families angry for good reason.
And it is also the kind of story that turns a simple prom checklist into something more serious: who is driving, who hired them, what company are they really with, and are they legally allowed to be doing the job at all.
Those questions are no longer small ones once your child is already in the back seat.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
