‘It’s just so hard’: Mother and father killed, 7 siblings injured in ATV crash

ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - A Georgia family is reeling after a mother and father were killed and seven siblings were injured in a crash at a popular ATV park in Alabama over Labor Day weekend.

Family and friends identified the parents killed as 34-year-old Marcus Ragland, a father of 10, and Ashley Hawkins, a mother of three. The pair from Rome, Georgia, had two children together.

EN ESPAÑOL | Accidente en vehículos todoterreno deja 2 muertos y 7 niños heridos

“This is just so hard to deal with. It’s just so hard,” said Felecia Towers, Ragland’s mother.

“It’s tragic both of them are gone. They are both two good people, good to their kids, and I really hate that they’re gone now,” said Maya Boyett, a longtime friend of Ragland and Hawkins.

Seven children, all siblings, were injured in the Saturday incident, which happened about 4 p.m. at the Indian Mountain ATV Park in Piedmont, Alabama, near the Alabama-Georgia border.

An ATV carrying all nine family members was traveling at a high rate of speed when it collided with a second ATV, according to the coroner’s office in Cherokee County. The family’s ATV traveled 150 feet, rolled over and hit a tree.

Officials said Ragland was pronounced dead at the scene. Hawkins was airlifted to the hospital, where she later died. Four of the children were airlifted to various hospitals, and the other three were taken by ground.

No one in the second ATV was injured, according to the coroner’s office.

“I’m going to miss him,” Towers said of Ragland. “I loved him so... I don’t know what else to say. He was a good boy. He was really fun to be around. He met no strangers. He was friends with everyone.”

Family members say Ragland was driving the ATV and died after he was ejected in the crash.

“He lived his life to the fullest. Whatever he wanted to do, that’s what he did. He said, ‘Life is for living,’ and that’s what he did,” said Ragland’s older sister, Lakeisha Floyd.

She added Hawkins was “a very sweet soul, always was really, really sweet. I’ve never seen her in a bad mood, always smiling.”

The seven children suffered varying injuries. One of the most severely injured is Ragland’s 13-year-old son, who has a skull fracture. His 10-year-old daughter has a broken collarbone, and his 2-year-old daughter has spleen injuries.

Alabama state Sen. Andrew Jones said there are virtually no regulations at the ATV park, and Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency Director Shawn Rogers said that “information being provided is that no one was wearing a harness or restraint.”

“There’s nothing that says that everybody that gets in a side-by-side has to be restrained. That’s one of those things that personal responsibility has to be taken to ensure your own safety and the safety of those that’s in your care,” Rogers said.

Meanwhile, loved ones are promising that Ragland and Hawkins won’t be forgotten.

“I’ll always make sure they know Marcus, say, ‘Your daddy was that dude,’ you know what I’m saying? Always, for sure. I’ll always speak his name, especially around his kids, and let them know they had a good daddy, and I’ll do the same for her kids,” Boyett said.

A GoFundMe has been created to support the family.