I saw the worst car crash ever in Fort Bragg – Anderson Valley Advertiser

[as told to Bruce Anderson, 2003]

The following is a first-hand account of the car crash on Sherwood Road in Fort Bragg on Tuesday afternoon, August 27, 2003. Four people were killed and three were seriously injured. Three of the fatalities were children: 17-year-old Heidi Holmes, whose recklessness caused the accident; 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 seriously 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 suicidal rate of speed.

Mrs. Sowell died on impact, as did the three children in Mrs. Holmes' vehicle.

Ms. Sowell's passenger, 60-year-old Judi Mitchell of Fort Bragg, suffered serious injuries.

“I was in the yard when I heard a car coming way too fast down Sherwood Road. I ran out into the road and yelled at them to slow down. Then I saw the white car, Judy Mitchell's car, and the other car collide, just crash into each other. The young girl's car must have been going 70 to 80 miles an hour, which is not possible for long on that part of Sherwood Road. I was maybe 50 feet away just standing there, my heart in my throat. When they collided, everything went up in the air. The young girl, who had been going so fast I could hear her coming, had crossed into the oncoming lane to make a 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 violent that the cars literally stopped right where they hit and then were thrown vertically into the air. The girl's car ended up on its roof; the other car – Judy Mitchell's car – hit the embankment. After both cars landed where they did, car parts continued to fall from the sky. When everything stopped falling, I thought to myself that I was lucky that nothing had fallen on me. I just stood out there, so shocked that I couldn't even move for several seconds.

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

I felt death coming from both cars.

Then the screaming started in the girl's car. I ran to the car. They were all young. Children. Five of them. The driver's sister was screaming. Then one of the other children started screaming: “Get me out! I can't breathe.” I was afraid that the car would catch fire. I screamed for fire extinguishers. Meanwhile, people were running into the street from everywhere. I told the girl: “You can breathe because you're screaming. You're not suffocating. It's okay, help is on the way.”

I ran around to the other side of the car. I could see that the young girl who had been driving was dead and that the little boy in the back seat was dead too. His sweatshirt was covering his head. I knew he had probably died from a head wound but I touched him and said he was OK. Everyone was wearing their seat belts by the way but all the seat belts in the world couldn't have saved them from the speed and recklessness that killed them.

There was another boy in there with him. His head was stuck between the seats. It was just horrible. He was thrashing around so hard I got in the car and tried to calm him down so he wouldn't get any worse hurt than he already was. His whole forehead was slashed open and he was smashed in all directions. He was screaming, “My leg, my leg!” He grabbed his leg and his trouser leg ripped open and the bone was sticking out jaggedly through the skin. He was in very, very bad shape. I covered his leg and took his hands off of it. You don't hold a wounded person very tightly, you just hold them gently. The boy was conscious and even sat up on the stretcher. He should have been strapped in, but he wasn't.

The third girl, little 12-year-old Brittney, I didn't even know she was in there because the car was crushed and all the seats were enclosing her until she was out of sight. She was even better hidden than the little dead boy with his sweatshirt over his head. He was dead and she was gone too. I'm sure the three dead people all died on impact. The two that survived were very, very lucky to survive. Very lucky.

It happened at 4:10 p.m. The injured were taken out pretty quickly. Judy Mitchell is out of the hospital. The girl, the driver's sister, was out of the hospital the day of the funeral. The boy they call Hawk, whose real name is Kyle, I believe is still in the hospital. He had the worst injuries of all. This was probably the worst accident that has ever happened at Fort Bragg.

I heard that the girl had taken the car without her mother's permission. She was only 17 and not an experienced driver and a pretty out-of-control child. When the accident happened, people were cursing and angry at her. But she had no intention of killing anyone; she was just a stupid child and now she's a dead stupid child. It was heartbreaking to hear how angry people here were at her.”