Family of victims killed in I-85 wreck offers forgiveness to accused driver


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/08/08

A woman who lost two grandchildren and a great-grandchild in a chain-reaction car wreck in Gwinnett County on Tuesday offered forgiveness to the man accused of causing the wreck.

"To the young man driving that car, we forgive him," said Molly Dubach-Preston, grandmother of two people killed in the wreck, great-grandmother of one.

Vino Wong/AJC
Molly Dubach Preston, a grandmother in the Randle family, speaks after the funeral service. Left is a t-shirt picture of Alexander Demetrius Randle.
 
I-85 WRECK:

She spoke during a funeral service for Alexander Randle, 14; his sister, Whitney Randle, 21, and Whitney's 13-month-old son, Kayden Randle-Finley, all of Lawrenceville, at Voices of Faith Baptist Church in Stone Mountain.

Falleen Randle, mother of Whitney and Alex, asked the congregation to keep praying for her husband, Demetrius Randle, 45, who remains in critical condition at Gwinnett Medical Center.

"We need to live every single day like it's your last because you are not guaranteed tomorrow," she said. "If you do that you should have no regrets."

Bishop Gary Hawkins, pastor at the church, noted that Whitney joined the church a year ago and Alex joined last Easter.

The members of the Randle family died March 31 in a five-car wreck on I-85 near Norcross. They were coming home from the airport in a limousine SUV driven by Mark Anthony Gay, 44, of Lawrenceville, who also died. His funeral was last Saturday in South Georgia.

One of the other drivers, Cody Rhoden, 20, of Gainesville, was charged with four counts of vehicular homicide and other offenses. He remains in the Gwinnett County Jail.

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