4 die in Lee County from motor vehicle accidents during Christmas holiday

Four people were pronounced dead within 24 hours of each other after separate motor vehicle accidents in Lee County as Christmas was celebrated Sunday and Monday.

A 7-year-old girl died Sunday afternoon in an ATV accident. Because she is a juvenile, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said in a news release, he won’t release her name.

Sunday night, Debra Childs Hammock, 54, of Waverly, Ala., died in a two-vehicle crash, according to a news release from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Approximately 40 minutes past midnight, Selonzo Cantrell Jackson, 28, of Opelika died in a single-vehicle crash, according to the coroner.

Then on Monday afternoon, a 53-year-old man died when the motorcycle he was driving collided with a pickup truck in Opelika. The identity of the victim is being withheld, pending notification of the family, according to a news release from the Opelika Police Department.

Smiths station girl

According to the coroner, authorities received a call at around 12:20 p.m. Sunday about an ATV accident on Lee Road 2006 in Smiths Station. Emergency responders from the East Alabama Medical Center, Lee County sheriff’s deputies and Smiths Station volunteers found the girl unresponsive, despite the fact that she was wearing a helmet. She was taken by ambulance to Midtown Medical Center in Columbus, where efforts to revive her were unsuccessful. She was pronounced dead in the emergency room at 1:07 p.m.

The girl was riding the ATV with an adult family member when she apparently throttled the vehicle too much, causing it to rear up and go out of control. The ATV left the roadway and struck a utility pole, according to the coroner.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the accident. The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery is conducting a postmortem examination, as required by state law following any unexpected death of someone younger than 18, according to the coroner.

Waverly woman

Hammock was killed when the 2013 Toyota Corolla she was driving was struck by a 2000 Chevrolet K1500 at the intersection of U.S. 280 and Alabama 147, according to a news release from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Hammock was pronounced dead at the scene. The time of the crash was 7:12 p.m.

“Nothing further is available as Alabama State Troopers continue to investigate,” the ALEA news release says.

According to the coroner, Hammock instantly was killed from a massive head injury and blunt-force impact injuries when she apparently turned in front of a pickup truck towing a boat and was struck broadside in the passenger side of her vehicle, the coroner said in his news release. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:33 p.m.

The coroner further described the crash: Hammock was traveling west on U.S. 280 when she attempted to turn south onto Ala. Highway 147. The pickup was traveling east on U.S. 280. Hammock’s 3-year-old grandson was in a car seat in the rear of her vehicle. He wasn’t injured, the coroner’s release says, but he was taken to an emergency room as a precaution and has been released. The driver of the pickup also wasn’t injured, according to the coroner.

Opelika man

Jackson instantly was killed from blunt-force chest injuries when the unspecified vehicle he was driving apparently left the road at a high rate of speed and struck a tree at 300 Cusseta Road in Opelika, in front of Storybook Farm, at approximately 12:40 a.m., according to the coroner.

Jackson, who was the only occupant in the vehicle and didn’t appear to be wearing his seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:55 a.m., the coroner’s news release says.

The Opelika Police Department is investigating the accident. According to the department’s news release, Jackson was traveling west on Cusseta Road.

Unidentified man

Opelika police and units from the Opelika Fire Department responded to the 12:15 p.m. call concerning a traffic crash with injuries on Marvyn Parkway at the intersection with Crawford Road. A Chevrolet Avalanche and Harley Davidson motorcycle had collided. Lee County Coroner Bill Harris pronounced the victim dead at the scene at 12:34 p.m., according to police.

The other driver wasn’t injured, Opelika police Capt. Bobby Kilgore told the Ledger-Enquirer.

The preliminary investigation shows that the pickup truck was trying to turn left from Marvyn Parkway onto Crawford Road. The motorcycle was traveling north on Marvyn Parkway when the vehicles collided, according to the news release.

Anyone with information about the two Opelika accidents is asked to call the department’s Traffic Homicide Unit at 334-705-5200 or the Secret Witness Hotline at 334-745-8665. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

This story was originally published December 27, 2016 at 10:46 AM with the headline "4 die in Lee County from motor vehicle accidents during Christmas holiday."