MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – A Monroe County mom is speaking out after her 13-year-old daughter was injured in a weekend crash by a suspected drunk driver.
A home surveillance camera captured video the exact moment the pickup truck she and two other kids were riding in when it went airborne, crashing to a stop in a marsh in Newport.
“When I came up to the scene she was laying on the ground crying for me, shivering, she was in shock,” said mom, Shawlynn Reece. “Her friend was next to her; the third girl was up against the windshield.”
Monroe County Sheriff Troy Goodnough says they were lucky the truck crashed where it did.
“The car landed in the marsh,” said Goodnough. “Thank goodness the water levels were relatively low.”
The truck became stuck in the mud, allowing first responders and bystanders to aid those involved.
Most upsetting to Reece? The woman who crashed the truck, who was a mother to one of the kids in the car, appears to have been drinking.
“Not too long ago, we had a tragedy in this county with another presumed alcohol-related incident and the death of children,” Goodnough said. “I don’t know what it’s going to take.”
“I don’t understand why any grown adult who is supposed to be responsible could put their own kid, let alone someone else’s kids, babies in harm like that,” said Reece, whose daughter, Tavin, suffered a closed head injury.
She says Tavin is home from the hospital recovering with two black eyes, bruises, a sprained wrist, and some stitches.
She is grateful she is alive but still doesn’t understand how or why this happened.
“I don’t think she even realized what she had done; she looked very confused,” Reece said.
The crash is still under investigation.