4 Members Of Mass. Family Killed In Florida Crash
OSCEOLA COUNTY, FL (CBS) – Four family members from Massachusetts, including a 5-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy, were killed in a horrific crash outside of Orlando, Florida near Walt Disney World Tuesday evening.
Eight people from one family, four adults and four children, were in a minivan on the 429 highway around 5:30 p.m. when traffic began to slow down.
"A pickup truck did not slow and rear-ended a van," Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Kim Montes told reporters.
The impact from the truck caused the Toyota Sienna to flip over. Three people sitting in the last row of the van were killed – 5-year-old Scarlett Smith, her 41-year-old mother Julie Smith of Whitman and Scarlett's grandmother, 76-year-old Josephine Fay of South Weymouth.
Police said Scarlett's brother, 12-year-old Jaxon Smith, was pronounced dead on Wednesday.
Their father, grandfather, and 10 and 5-year-old sisters were released from the hospital Tuesday night. The 5-year-old, Skylar Smith, is Scarlett's twin sister.
Police said all of the children and three of the four adults were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.
Related: Whitman Mourns 'Unimaginable' Loss
The truck also hit two other cars in the crash. Those drivers had minor injuries, according to police.
Montes said the 26-year-old driver of the pickup truck, Lucas Dos Reis Laurindo of Kissimmee, Florida, will be charged, but the exact charges have not been determined yet.
Investigators initially said there were only seven seats in the van, but changed that Wednesday afternoon saying everyone in the van had a seat at the time of the crash.
The children had all attended the Merry Deb Learning Center in Whitman and the twins were talking about their upcoming trip to Disney just recently.
"They were so excited about going," the pre-school's director, Darlene Staples, told reporters Wednesday, "It's unimaginable."
