Three members of an Atlanta ministry remained in intensive care Wednesday, a day after a van carrying 19 people flipped over on Florida’s Turnpike. But the ministry’s founders said they’re thankful everyone survived.
The members of Atlanta Restoration Ministries were on a mission trip to south Florida when the wreck happened about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in St. Lucie County, Fla., according to police. Vincent and Tammy Jones run the ministry.
“It flipped, I think, two times and then it landed on the hood and it skid,” Tammy Jones told Channel 2 Action News.
Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Wysocky said a tire on the van, which was pulling a trailer, blew out, “causing the vehicle and trailer to lose control and overturn.”
Several of the van’s occupants were ejected, and the driver, 35-year-old Shaperell Winn of Atlanta and 18 passengers were taken to Lawnwood Medical Center with injuries ranging from minor to serious, according to Wysocky.
Those injured ranged in age from 35 to 55.
According to the group's website, Atlanta Restoration Ministries was organized "to restore the lives of those souls afflicted with drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution, gangs and those with no home and no hope."
Vincent Jones told Channel 2 Action News that four people remained hospitalized Wednesday morning with broken bones and head injuries. Before he left for Florida to help those in the crash, Jones said he was “looking forward to telling people how God saved them and kept them alive so that they can go on with the mission of helping people come out of darkness.”
The group was on its way to a rally to help those addicted to drugs and alcohol, and was about an hour from its destination at the time of the crash.
Tammy Jones said the ministry relies on donations, and the crash will be a setback. But it could have been worse, she said.
“I just thank God that they’re alive,” Jones said.
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