5-Year-Old Girl, Mother, Grandmother Die After Car Accident

Lorenz Duchamps
By Lorenz Duchamps
June 26, 2020US News
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5-Year-Old Girl, Mother, Grandmother Die After Car Accident
Ava, 5, from Thomasville, Ala., in a file photo. (GoFundMe)

A 5-year-old girl from Alabama died Thursday after suffering injuries from a car accident last week, her family said.

The June 19 car crash in Clarke County claimed the lives of four people, including 5-year-old Ava Brunson, and left one other critically injured.

The victims were identified as Ava’s mother, 23-year-old Megan Dianne Brunson of Thomasville; 52-year-old Wanda Brunson, who is Megan’s mother and Ava’s grandmother, and 36-year-old Christopher Pritchett. All three were found deceased at the scene. Ava’s death on Thursday makes her aunt the sole survivor of the accident.

Pritchett was a suspect fleeing police during a pursuit and crashed head-on with the Brunson’s after crossing the meridian, KEYT reported.

Ava and her aunt were hospitalized in critical condition but on Thursday, the girl passed away. She had been on a ventilator for about a week. Her family said she has been a fighter.

Ava’s father, Hunter Campbell, and her paternal grandmother, Joanna Chaney, sat beside her in the hospital throughout the week. “It is with broken hearts” they announced the news that the young girl has passed away, a family member wrote on a GoFundMe page.

The girl’s family said she had “the most contagious smile you’ve ever seen with the most beautiful soul to fit it,” adding she enjoyed doing makeovers and playing with her sister and cousins.

Megan was a teacher at Thomasville High School. The school released a statement one day after the accident.

“It is with great sadness that the Thomasville City Schools District announces the passing of teacher Megan Brunson. She, along with her mother, were both killed late last night in a traffic accident,” the school wrote on Facebook, along with a picture of Megan.

“Words cannot express how devastating this news has been for me, and my heart breaks to know how we will all be impacted by Megan’s loss. She was a shining star that had so much incredible potential,” said Kyle Ferguson, Principal of Thomasville High School.

She was only teaching at the TCS for her second year, the school said. She was scheduled to teach sixth-grade language arts in 2020-2021.

“We have lost a valuable member of our Thomasville family,” said Garth Moss, the school’s superintendent. “She was a wonderful young lady who in a short time had made an impact on the lives of her students. We ask that you keep her family and the Thomasville family in your prayers.”

Following the accident, the Clarke County sheriff sent his “sincere thoughts and prayers to all of the families involved in the wreck.”

“Dangerous actions such as speeding, distracted driving, and driving under the influence are still putting many Americans, their families and those they share the road with at risk,” said National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Deputy Administrator Heidi King in a statement.

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