A college mentor to a woman injured in a weekend Brooklyn drunk driving crash called the victim a “bright light in public health,” who is intensely passionate about helping the poor and disadvantaged.
Micah Dukes, 29, was thrown from the backseat of a Honda Pilot early Sunday morning in Bushwick when suspect Juan Lopez — who was allegedly fleeing the cops during a bout of drunkenness — blew a stop sign in his Mercedes and clipped the car in which she rode, cops said.
She survived the wreck — even though police initially said she’d died — and was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital Center in critical condition.
“I was devastated,” Keshana Owens-Cody told The Post. “She is a bright light in public health, she’s passionate about serving the community. It would have been loss.”
Owens-Cody — who first met Dukes when the Albany native attended Hudson Valley Community College — said she’s “still processing” the news that her friend and colleague survived the horrific accident.
She’s also immensely relieved.
“She’s very, very bright,” Owens-Cody said of Dukes, whom she kept in touch with after Dukes graduated last year. “She was a sponge … I still see her having a huge impact and serving our communities.”
“I know that she wants to do great things,” she continued. “She wants to help others. I was feeling devastated that we lost somebody that had so much energy, so much going for her in this field.”
But the terrible accident has thrown a wrench in Dukes’ future plans to work in the field of public health.
Lopez, who rammed the Honda on Central Avenue near Gates Avenue, lost control of his ride and drove up on the sidewalk before cops busted him.
Authorities slapped him with a laundry list of charges, including reckless endangerment.
A 64-year-old employee at the corner store near the intersection, Edwin Castro, said he saw a police car following the Mercedes before it ran the red light and rammed into the Honda.
Dukes was lying face down on the sidewalk roughly 10 feet away from the SUV she was ejected from, Castro added.
The lifelong Bushwick resident told cops the young woman couldn’t breathe. So one of the officers lifted her head as Castro placed a pillow under it until medics arrived.
The Honda’s other occupants — two women and a man — were not hurt, cops said.
During her senior year at Hudson Valley, Dukes completed a four-month internship with the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County, a local educational center focusing on the environment, energy, nutrition, health and wellness, among other areas, according to an online profile.
“I knew coming into this program that I wanted to help people,” she is quoted as saying in the profile. “I wanted to work with marginalized communities, people dealing with mental health issues, low income, people of color, and I think this is a good start in terms of my career. I just think it’s really important to help people improve the quality of their lives.”