Parents and two of their five children were killed in a North Carolina crash early Friday morning (May 23, 2009) |
JAMAICA, N.Y. (WPIX)—
Four members of a family from Jamaica were killed Friday in a traffic accident in North Carolina. Wayne Pride-Hicks, 44, was killed, along with his wife, Natalie, 35, and their children Wayne Jr., 10, and Natalia, 3. Three other children survived.Pride-Hicks was taking his family to visit his biological father, Leroy Rumph. The New York Daily News reports Price-Hicks and his wife and five children had never met Rumph.
"He was going to see the father...but that never happened. He was very excited," said family pastor Bishop Lester Williams of the Community Church of Christ in Jamaica.
The family reportedly left for Clayton, Ala., Thursday night; they were halfway during the journey when the crash occurred around 9 a.m. Friday on Interstate 77 near the town of Elkin, N.C.
The News says local authorities think the father was asleep at the wheel when the minivan crossed a 60-foot-wide median, swerved into oncoming traffic, and collided full speed with a pickup truck and another vehicle, according to North Carolina State Highway Patrol First Sgt. Justin Dodson.
"Elijah was screaming, 'Daddy, Daddy, wake up!' a relative told Williams, referring to one of the three surviving children. "Everybody else was asleep," he said.
The surviving children - Elijah, 8; John, 7; and Josiah, 5 - were injured and taken to a hospital but are expected to live.
A husband and wife in the pickup truck were in critical condition at a nearby hospital. The driver of the third car was treated and released Friday from a local hospital.
