Video from AirStar 36 showed the mangled SUV on N.C. 218 near West Duncan Road.
“It was as bad as it looked and sounded. It was the awfullest sound you could think of. I just hollered ‘Oh God’ and took off running.”
- Russell Bishop, witness to accident
There was nothing Bishop could do.
A head-on collision so hard, the front of the vehicles dug into the asphalt.
Driver Dayna Yarbrough Brown of Marshville may have caused the wreck by crossing the center line, the Highway Patrol says. Laurel Goodman Gerst of Mint Hill was driving the van. She died upon impact as well.
“Your adrenaline is running and you want to help them all you can and that’s what hurts,” said Bishop.
The one year-old baby girl inside the SUV survived in a baby seat with just a few glass cuts. She was treated and released from the hospital.
If you think wrecks and close calls here are uncommon, look at Bishop’s front yard. “Right through here, you can see the tracks and stuff right here,” Bishop said.
Fresh tire marks from cars and trucks having to hit the brakes to avoid wrecks.
“Tractor-trailers are the world’s worst,” he said. “They fly through here.”
Bishop says some drivers ignore a sign that says roads on each side ahead.
“People just don’t pay attention,” he said. Bishop says word among folks trying to help, including those driving behind the SUV, was the mom apparently looked away for a second to tend to her baby.
“They seen her reach down or reach over to the baby or something and she went and crossed the center line,” Bishop said. “Just a hard pill to swallow.
Story courtesy of Charlotte Observer and WCNC TV 36
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Dear Gerst family…My thoughts and prayers are with your family and I’m so sorry for your loss. This was my aunt and baby cousin.
Dear Tiffany…thanks for the kind words. The baby is home and doing well.
I just ask everyone to prayer for both of these families.
I sure hope that baby girl is in good hands, prayer’s go out to those women’s family.