The story is one that's been told across the country. A heartbreaking tale of four children who lost their parents in a Halloween crash and the Georgia trooper who did his best to make the night bearable.
After a trip to the store for candy and face paint, Donald and Crystal Howard died in a single-vehicle crash less than a half-mile from their Morgan County home. When Trooper Nathan Bradley went to the family home, he was greeted by four costumed children, anxiously waiting for their parents.
Bradley stayed with the children, taking them to dinner and then to his post, and bonded with each one, determined not to let their Halloween be filled with devastation. The children, Justin, Amiah, Daimean and Tayvion, range in age from 6 to 13. Video released from the trooper’s dashboard camera showed all four excited to be riding along with Bradley.
“You’re the best cop ever,” Amiah, 10, is heard saying in the video.
Bradley later started a Go Fund Me page with hopes of raising enough money to cover funeral and burial expenses for the Howards. Within hours, he did that and more.
By Friday afternoon, donations on the online site had passed $400,000.
The children’s aunt, Sharlee Dismuke, said the family has been overwhelmed by the support coming in from strangers. But the money will be used for pressing needs, including the funerals and a bigger home in Florida.
“We did not know that we would have this help,” Dismuke said. “This is crazy, in a good way.”
On Friday, a Union City car dealership announced it was giving a minivan to the kids’ relatives.
The children’s grandmother, Stephanie Oliver, drove to Georgia after getting the news that her son and daughter-in-law were killed. Oliver returned to her Sarasota-area home with the children late Wednesday.
Oliver was taken by ambulance to the hospital within hours of returning, and she remained hospitalized on Friday after experiencing stress-related problems, the family has said. She has been resting comfortably, Dismuke said.
» To donate to the Howard children, go to www.gofundme.com/wreckonhalloween
» Donations can also be mailed to Operation Howard Kids, P.O. Box 21199, Bradenton, FL 34204
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