Truck with 13 passengers crashes leaving 9 children and 2 adults dead

Jet, August 18, 1997

A pickup truck in Michigan jammed with two mothers and 11 children was crushed when it crashed into a dump truck, leaving both adults and nine children dead in what has been called the worst pickup truck crash in the country.

The women were identified as the driver, Elaine Jackson, 24, of Albion, and her friend, Letechia Scott, 19. The children were identified as Ms. Jackson's children--Terry Jackson Jr., 9; 8-year-old twins Luke and Isaiah; Sierra, 6; and Jeremiah, 3; Ms. Scott's two children--Terrance, 3, and Terron Jr., 2; and the Scott children's cousins, Edward and Ashly Orange, whose ages were unknown at press time.

The two boys who survived are Adam Orange, 9, and Deandre Scott, 7 months. Both boys, who had severe head injuries and broken bones, were in critical condition at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. Three boys survived initially, but one, age 3, died later in surgery.

Terry Jackson, the patriarch of the Jackson family, is now alone. One son, Tyree, died in an earlier accident when he was hit by a car. The rest of his family perished in this tragedy.

The dump truck, which was towing a backhoe and traveling on a paved road with no stop sign posted, apparently ran right over the pickup.

The group in the pickup truck, which was traveling on a gravel road that had a posted stop sign, was returning from a lake outing.

According to Capt. Tony Phillips of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, the driver of the pickup either ran the stop sign or failed to yield the right of way after stopping. "That impact caused the truck to disintegrate."

Police have not determined how fast the trucks were going when they crashed. There are no speed limit signs posted in the area.

Elaine Jackson, who was driving the pickup, had a suspended license. Police are also doing tests to see if alcohol was involved.

The deadly tragedy has again brought into the focus the debate on whether passengers should be allowed to ride in the cargo beds of the vehicles. The two mothers involved in the crash were seated in the extended cab of the truck along with three children; the other children were in the truck bed which was covered by some sort of shell.

"People who are sitting in the back of pickup trucks become human missiles in an accident," Ricardo Martinez, administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told USA Today. "Unfortunately, people tend to stash their children back there, and it has deadly consequences."

Every year more than 200 people are killed nationwide while riding in the back of pickup trucks. More than half the deaths involve children and teenagers. Though some states restrict children, New Jersey is the only state that bars all riders from the open beds of pickup trucks.