Trooper: Toddler one of two small children ejected from van
Headline Surfer® graphic/ Toddler Nayana S. Thomas, of Seville, was killed Sunday in a two-vehicle crash near the intersection on Clifton Road and 17-92 in Crescent City, just over the Volusia County line in Putnam County as shown in the locator map at left.
CRESCENT CITY -- The Christmas holiday season has been one of mourning for a Seville family with the Sunday morning death of a 3-year-old girl in a two-vehicle crash at an intersection in Crescent City, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The deceased child's mother, Ashley N. Thomas, 29, was traveling south on U.S. 17, when her Dodge Caravan was struck by a vehicle driven by Gerard Buchan, 74, who had stopped at the stop sign while westbound on Clifton Road just before 9 a.m., but failed to yield to the van.
This resulted in him striking the left side of the van and forcing it "off the southwest shoulder," highway patrol Cpl. Randall Naugher said.
Buchan was not hurt, but two of Thomas' five children were ejected from the van, including the 3-year-old who perished. None of the children, ranging in age from 4 months to 7 years, were wearing seat belts, the FHP said.
All of the children were transported to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where four of them were treated for non-life threatening injuries, but the 3-year-old sibling, Nayana S. Thomas, was pronounced dead on arrival in the ER.
Buchan was not hurt, but two of Thomas' five children were ejected from the van, including the 3-year-old who perished. None of the children, ranging in age from 4 months to 7 years, were wearing seat belts, the FHP said. All of the children were transported to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where four of them were treated for non-life threatening injuries, but the 3-year-old sibling, Nayana S. Thomas, was pronounced dead on arrival in the ER.
The mother was admitted to the hospital with serious injuries, the FHP said. The accident remains under investigation.