A mother and father were killed in a horrific ATV crash that also injured seven of the 11 kids they share, according to reports.
Marcus Ragland and Ashley Hawkins died when the recreational vehicle they were in smashed into another ATV while off-roading Saturday afternoon at Indian Mountain ATV Park in Piedmont, Alabama, WANF reported.
Their speeding ATV careened 150 feet before smashing into a tree, officials told the outlet — saying that nobody appeared to be wearing a seatbelt.
Ragland was pronounced dead at the scene and Hawkins was airlifted to a hospital, where she later died.
All seven kids with them were hospitalized, with four taken by chopper, the outlet said. Ragland was a father of 10 and Hawkins a mother of three, including two with her Ragland, the outlet said.
“This is just so hard to deal with. It’s just so hard,” Ragland’s mom, Felecia Towers, told WANF.
Maya Boyett, a longtime friend of both, said it was “tragic both of them are gone.”
“They are both two good people, good to their kids, and I really hate that they’re gone now,” she said.
Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency Director Shawn Rogers said “information being provided is that no one was wearing a harness or restraint.”
However, “there’s nothing that says that everybody that gets in [an ATV] has to be restrained” with a seatbelt, Rogers said of safety rules.. “That’s one of those things that personal responsibility has to be taken to ensure your own safety and the safety of those that’s in your care.”
Ragland’s 13-year-old son suffered a skull fracture. His 10-year-old daughter was left with a broken collarbone and his 2-year-old daughter has spleen injuries, WANF reported
Nobody on the second ATV was injured, officials said.
The location of the accident was remote and difficult to access, requiring ATV park staff to escort emergency personnel to the crash site, according to the coroner’s office
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