Police in Cold Spring named the five people killed in a Tuesday morning crash, including two children, both under two years old.
At 4:37 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, Brandon Lawson, 23, lost control of his Toyota Corolla and crossed the median on Alexandria Pike, police say. Lawson’s car was hit by a gold Ford Taurus driven by Russell Groves, 84, who couldn’t avoid the crash, according to police.
Lawson, his wife Taylor Koch and their two children, Brendan and Isabella Lawson, were all killed. Isabella was six months old. Brendan was nearly two years old.
Groves survived the crash and was airlifted to a hospital. His passenger, Sharon Groves, 74, was killed.
A third vehicle involved in the crash, a Ford Focus driven by Barry Miller, hit the front fender of Lawson’s Corolla. No one inside the Ford Focus was hurt.
The police chief said that he didn’t think excessive speed was involved.
“I think if you reduce the speed limit, without the median in that situation, you’re still going to have a head-on collision,“ the chief said. ”Lowering it by 10 miles per hour, I don’t think the results would be much different.”
Both of the children were properly strapped into child seats, according to Collinsworth. All of the adults were wearing seatbelts.
The first responders were devastated by the crash.
“It happens very quickly,” Cold Spring Sgt. Andy Hyett told WCPO. “It’s tragic. I have a child of my own and every officer and firefighter that went there also has that … It’s one of the hardest things we have to do.”
“You go home and hug your family that much harder and thank God it wasn’t you this time,” Hyett added.
Collinsworth hopes finding the cause of the crash would provide a sense of closure.
“When you can put your finger on it, that makes it a little easier. In this case we may never be able to do that. It makes it harder,” he said.
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