Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 | 4:10 p.m.
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Updated: 2:20 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013 | Posted: 12:39 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013
By Chris Joyner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Police are still working out the details in a tragic accident Friday evening in Douglas County that killed a child and sent four more to the hospital.
Police say a woman driving an SUV on I-20 flipped the vehicle several times, apparently while trying to make a last-minute exit at Ga. 92 in Douglasville. Jamal Lewis, 7, died at the scene, one of several children ejected from the vehicle in the accident.
The scene was tough even for the most veteran police officers.
“We’ve got officers here that have been here 20 years and it’s the worst accident they have seen,” Douglasville Police Lt. Greg Weaver said. “A lot of that has to do with the fact that they were children.”
Jamal’s sisters, 14-year-old Santerria Lewis and 5-year-old Jasmine Lewis, were seriously injured.
Their great-aunt, Coutney Watson of Atlanta, said Jasmine was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and underwent surgery Saturday for a broken pelvis and other injuries. Children’s Healthcare spokeswoman Patty Gregory said Jasmine is in serious condition, and Watson said doctors expect her to live.
“Jasmine is doing very well. She’s alert,” Watson said. “She didn’t have any head injuries, so that’s a good thing.”
The news is graver for Santerria, who is on life support at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. Watson said doctors have told the children’s mother, Erica Lewis, to prepare for the worst. Gregory said Santerria is in critical condition.
Watson said her niece, mother of six, is “devastated.”
“She’s back and forth from hospital to hospital,” she said. “She stayed with Jasmine last night.”
Updates on the conditions of the two other girls, 15 and 13, were not immediately available. Watson said the driver and the 15-year-old girl, who rode in the front passenger seat, apparently were the only ones wearing seat belts.
The driver, whose name has not been released, is a family friend. Weaver of the Douglasville police could not confirm whether the children were wearing seat belts, as the investigation is still continuing.
No charges have been filed.
“I don’t know if they will be,” Weaver said. “Our main concern is checking on the children’s injuries. We had investigators at the hospitals and then back out at the scene. … Charges, if they were to come, would be something that would come down the road.”
Watson said the family is in the process of setting up a fund for the children’s medical bills with a local bank. None of the children had insurance.
Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home in Atlanta is in charge of arrangements for Jamal Lewis. Details are pending.
The accident was one of nine wrecks across the region that killed 10 metro residents over the weekend:
—Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this report.
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