‘I sat and held my baby’: Mother of 6-year-old struck by truck tells story of horror

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The family of Ryan J. Grantham is devastated and still in shock. Six-year-old R.J. was hit and killed in Rochester on Friday afternoon.

His mother spoke to us about how the family is coping and how they plan to carry on Ryan’s legacy. He was only six years old and his life was cut short.

Farasa Brown says she was just steps away and saw her son get hit by a pickup truck and fall to the ground.

Brown says what started off as a nice day ended in horror. She was at the hair salon and Ryan was getting his hair cut just next door at the barber shop. What happened next changed her life forever.

“It’s a day-by-day process. My routines are kind of thrown off. I just must stay strong because Bear wouldn’t want me sad,” Brown said.

Ryan went to the store across the street Friday afternoon with his older sister, who is 13, and his older cousin.

She was in the hair salon just across the street on Thurston Road and watched them. He was never alone. When she saw the truck hit him, she jumped out of the chair and ran to save him.

“My daughter was screaming, I’m running, I’m holding him. I’m waiting for somebody to call 911 because I couldn’t find my phone. And I just sat there and held my baby until somebody got there,” she said.

She followed the ambulance with her brother to the hospital. R.J. didn’t make it.

“They were working, they were working. I could hear them working. Fifteen minutes in he was gone,” Brown said.

She now has an angel watching over her and the family. R.J. will forever be in their hearts.

“Oh Ryan! Oh, my baby bear. Athletic, fun, amazing, resilient. His name on the street was Captain Fun,” Brown said.

Last year in that same spot on Thurston Road, where Ryan died, Brown was t-boned by another car.

“I’ve taken two hits in that spot. So, I need something to be done in that area because my family has been hit twice. I was shaken up for a while,” she said.

Brown has started a petition in honor of R.J. to have a crosswalk set up. She doesn’t want another family to mourn a loss of their loved one like her family.

“My family is struggling. RJ was the baby of both sides of the family,” she explained.

The family announced funeral arrangements Tuesday. Services will be held Saturday at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church on Adams Street. The viewing is at 10 a.m. followed by the funeral at noon.