"It's my family. My wife was laying there on the ground. (By) the look of the car, I don't know how either of them lived," Van Riper said. "There was nothing left of that car."

Van Riper’s wife, Amber, and son, Jonathan, were airlifted to the hospital, and his wife endured 9 hours of surgery to repair a broken pelvis. Both are expected to recover.

The car carrying Amber and her son collided with an oncoming pickup truck. The accident is still under investigation.

The family does not have insurance, KTRK reported, and friends have created a GoFundMe account to help pay their expenses.

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Rebecca Ramage-Tuttle, assistant director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia, says the the DOE rule change is “a slippery slope” for civil rights. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC