Clayton County police on Wednesday continued to investigate a crash that killed two young children this week after their mother said her car’s brakes failed.
Jayona Hamrick, 6, and her brother, JAaron, 5, died Tuesday when the Honda Accord their mother, Jasmine Hamrick, was driving left a subdivision near Riverdale and was hit by a semi-truck on Ga. 138, Officer Hal Weiner told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Weiner said the truck driver had the right of way.
“We don’t know whose fault it is yet, but she entered the intersection and was T-boned,” Weiner said of the mother.
Hamrick said her car’s brakes may have failed, Channel 2 Action News reported. Investigators planned to inspect the vehicle.
The day after the tragedy, a makeshift memorial commemorating the two children was established near the site of the wreck. Well-wishers left stuffed animals as they sought to remember the children.
“It’s just so sad to see that a mother lost her two kids,” said Ivonne Crandell, who visited the scene. “It’s very sad to know you’d have your two kids in your arm … and in seconds you’d just lose them …”
Hamrick attended a vigil Wednesday evening on crutches for a leg injury from the crash. She was at the event with her mother, Dena Bennett, who said the family has been touched by all the support.
“It means a lot, cause a lot of these people we don’t even know, Bennett said. “It’s just the love. It shows that the community does care.”
Joy Adams, who was at the scene of the crash, told Channel 2 the truck driver was her 44-year-old brother, Cecil Adams.
“My brother is devastated — he loves kids,” she said. “He went back to try to get the kids out of the car and said the little boy looked at him and then took his last breath.”
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