By SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS Staff
PIEDMONT, Ala. — A Georgia couple, Marcus Ragland and Ashley Hawkins, were killed Saturday in a devastating crash at Indian Mountain ATV Park in Cherokee County that also injured seven of their 11 children, according to officials.
Authorities said Ragland was driving a side-by-side RZR at a high rate of speed when it collided with another ATV, careened nearly 150 feet, overturned, and slammed into a tree. Ragland was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. Hawkins, the mother of three, was airlifted to a Birmingham hospital, where she later died.
None of the nine people aboard — including their children, ranging in age from a baby to 12 years old — were wearing restraints, which are not required in the park. “It’s not recommended to have nine people, especially young children, in a RZR not using safety harnesses,” said Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver.
Four of the children were flown to Birmingham trauma centers, while three others were transported to a Georgia hospital. Family members said Ragland leaves behind 10 children, while Hawkins had three, including two with Ragland.
Loved ones mourned the loss. “This is just so hard to deal with,” said Ragland’s mother, Felecia Towers. Family friend Maya Boyett called it “tragic both of them are gone … they were good people, good to their kids.”
The crash remains under investigation as toxicology results are pending. The two people in the other ATV were uninjured and tried to help.