Mother who lost son urges people not to drink and drive

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — A Chattanooga mother, who lost her son after he was killed by a drunk driver, is sharing her message with the hope people don’t drink and drive this holiday season.

Tiki Finlayson looks at pictures of her son Kevin.

“He had an amazing smile, loved to make people laugh and he made life fun no matter what it was he was doing, even if it was something he didn’t like to do. He always made it fun. Just an amazing person. Everybody said Kevin was their best friend,” Finlaysaon said.

In July of 2011, when Kevin was 25, he was driving home for work. He was then hit head on by a drunk driver. Kevin died the next day.

“There is really no explaining what all emotions that you do feel, because you are just flooded with all of the emotions. But I knew I wanted to do something positive with the tragedy and for me to be able to do that I knew forgiveness was going to be part of the equation for me,” Finlayson said.

Finlayson and the woman who was convicted in the crash, Latisha Stephens, now do presentations together telling their story and sharing their message of forgiveness.

“We are presenting it in a way to make people think about how important their choices are and that there are no winners when it comes to drunk driving, everybody loses,” Finlayson said.

This holiday season Finlayson is hoping people will think before they drink, and not get behind the wheel.

“It truly is a matter of life or death if you get behind the wheel intoxicated,” Finlayson said.

Finlayson is in the process of writing a book about her experience. For more information about her mission, visit her Facebook page or website.