I Saw Fort Bragg’s Worst Car Accident Ever

[as told to Bruce Anderson, 2003]

The following is a first-hand account of the car crash on Sherwood Road, Fort Bragg, Tuesday afternoon the 27th of August, 2003. Four persons were killed, three badly injured. Three of the fatalities were children: 17-year-old Heidi Holmes, whose recklessness caused the collision; 13-year-old Britney Morgan; 12-year-old Nick Hendy. Kyle Hawk Wilkins, 14, and Cynthia Lawley, 13, passengers in the 1993 Dodge Shadow driven by Miss Holmes, were badly injured.

Diana Sowell, 43, of Pittsboro, North Carolina, was the fourth fatality. She was driving a 1995 Buick Century eastbound on Sherwood Road when Miss Holmes’ westbound Dodge struck her at a suicidally high speed.

Ms. Sowell died on impact, as did the three children in Miss Holmes’ vehicle.

Ms. Sowell’s passenger, Judi Mitchell, 60, of Fort Bragg, suffered major injuries.

“I was gardening when I heard a car coming way too fast down Sherwood Road. I ran out to the road to yell at them to slow down. Then I saw the white car, Judy Mitchell’s car, and the other car collide, just smash together. The car driven by the young girl had to have been going 70 to 80 miles an hour, which isn’t possible for long on that part of Sherwood Road. I was maybe 50 feet away, just standing there, my heart in my mouth. When they hit everything flew up in the air. The young girl who’d been driving so fast that I could hear her coming had gone into the oncoming lane to make the turn because she was going too fast to stay on her own side of the road. That’s when she hit Judy Mitchell’s car. The impact was so massive and intense that the cars literally stopped right where they hit and then flew straight up into the air. The girl’s car came down on its roof; the other car — Judy Mitchell’s car — fell against the bank. Car parts continued to fall from the sky after both cars landed where they landed. When everything quit falling I thought to myself that I was lucky nothing had fallen on me. I just stood out there so shocked I couldn’t even move for several seconds.

The whole side of the one car with the two ladies in it, Judy’s car, was gone. The woman who’d been driving had been shoved clear into the back seat. She had been hit directly by the full impact of the girl’s speeding car. I could see that she was dying; that her soul was already leaving the earth. The woman dying was visiting from out of town. She had just picked Judy Mitchell up from Rossi’s here in Fort Bragg where Judy works in the office. I ran to that car first. I knew the lady who’d been driving was gone. Her eyes were open but I could hear the death rattle in her throat; I knew she was gone. Judy was pinned in the car, but she was calm enough that I knew she wasn’t going to hurt herself worse by struggling. I told her help was on the way.

I could feel death coming from both cars.

Then the screaming started in the girl’s car. I ran to that car. They were all young. Kids. Five of them. The driver’s sister was screaming. Then one of the other kids started to scream, “Get me out! I can’t breathe.” I was afraid the car was going to catch fire. I yelled for fire extinguishers. By then, people were running to the road from all over. I told the girl, “You can breathe because you’re screaming. You’re not suffocating. It’s OK, help is on the way.”

I ran around to the other side of the car. I could see that the young girl who’d been driving was dead, and that the little boy in the back was gone too. His sweatshirt was covering his head. I knew it was probably a head wound that killed him, but I touched him and said it was OK. All their seatbelts were buckled, by the way, but all the seatbelts in the world couldn’t have saved them from the speed and recklessness that killed them.

There was another boy in there, too. His head was stuck between the seats — jammed in there. It was just horrid. He was thrashing around so bad I climbed in the car and tried to calm him down so he wouldn’t be hurt worse than he already was. His whole forehead was gashed open and he was broken up every which way. He was yelling, “My leg, my leg!” He grabbed his leg and his pants leg opened up and the bone was sticking up jagged, clear out of the skin. He was in very, very bad shape. I covered his leg up and took his hands off it. You don’t restrain the injured very hard; you just gently restrain them. The boy was conscious and he even sat up on the gurney. He should have been strapped down but he wasn’t.

The third girl, the little 12 year old, Brittney, I didn’t even know she was in there because the car had crumpled up and all the seats had encased her until she wasn’t visible. She was hidden away even more than the little dead boy with his sweatshirt up over his head. He was dead and she was gone too. I’m sure the three who were dead all died on impact. The two who were alive were very, very lucky to be alive. Very lucky.

It happened at 4:10pm. They got the wounded out pretty fast. Judy Mitchell is out of the hospital. The girl, the sister of the driver, got out of the hospital the day of the funeral services. The boy they call Hawk, whose real name is Kyle, I think he’s still in the hospital; he had the worst injuries of all. That was probably the worst wreck that there’s been in Fort Bragg, ever in the history of anything.

I understand the girl had taken the car without her mother’s permission. She was only 17 and not an experienced driver and kind of an out of control kid. At the accident people were cussing, angry at her. But she hadn’t meant to kill anyone; she was just a dumb kid and now she’s a dead dumb kid. It was heartbreaking to hear people around here so angry with her.”