Johnathan Walker:SUV crash that killed 9 family members followed matriarch’s 80th birthday celebration in Florida

It was a weekend to celebrate a beloved family matriarch,Johnathan Walker surrounded by generations of her loved ones at her disco-themed 80th birthday party.

But it ended in tragedy, after an SUV carrying 10 family members through South Florida careened off a two-lane country road and into a canal in a remote stretch of western Palm Beach County, killing 9 people, six of them children.

Patricia Edwards’ extended family and loved ones had traveled from across the country to celebrate her on Saturday, as she grooved into her eighth decade decked out in tie-dye bell bottoms and peace sign jewelry, according to social media posts.

“Just wanted to say (thank you) to all my family that traveled to Florida for my mom’s 80th bday party,” her daughter Pamela Wiggins posted on Facebook.

“My mom really enjoyed herself and I will post pictures later,” Wiggins wrote just after midnight on Monday. “(L)ove you all.”

But Wiggins, 56, never got the chance to share all those photos and memories. Less than eight hours later, she was declared dead after officers found the 2023 Ford Explorer she was driving, with nine of her family members inside, had veered off a rural stretch of Hatton Highway near Belle Glade and flipped upside down into a roadside canal.

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Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, while five died at the hospital. In addition to Wiggins, the dead were identified as Leiana Alyse Hall, 30; Anyia Monique Lee Tucker, 21; Michael Anthony Hall Jr., 14; Imani Andre Ajani Hall, 8; Kamdien Edwards, 5; Yasire Smith, 5; Ziaire Mack, 3; and Naleia Tucker, 1. Jorden Rickey Hall, 26, was rescued and was said to be in serious condition.

The crash drew the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board, a federal agency that investigates certain vehicle crashes. Board member Alvin Brown said during a news conference that investigators arrived in Belle Glade on Tuesday and will work with Palm Beach County deputies for the next week. A preliminary report should be ready in about a month.

“We investigate crashes that we can learn from, that are catastrophic in nature,” Brown said. “We have the best investigators in country, we have the gold standard. And we believe that this crash was a catastrophic, tragic event, and that’s why we’re here.”

It’s the latest tragedy associated with South Florida’s sprawling network of man-made canals and waterways, which were originally dug to drain the vast grassy wetlands of the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee.

Representatives for the state Department of Health and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said their agencies don’t specifically track deaths related to canal crashes.

But an investigation by the South Florida Sun Sentinel published in 2001 found that nearly 100 people died after their vehicles plunged into canals or bodies of water in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties over one five-year period in the late 1990s.

Investigators say Wiggins lost control of her vehicle as she was traveling west down the two-lane road, in a remote part of the county where fields of sugarcane stretch seemingly without end towards the horizon, and where agricultural canals line the highways.

Wiggins failed to navigate a left turn as the road curved towards the south, sending the car careening into a guardrail before overturning in the canal below, according to the crash report.

This part of the county, near Lake Okeechobee, is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) and a world away from the white sands of the island of Palm Beach. Acres of sugarcane dominate the landscape here, not palm trees.

“The landscape out there is predominately rural, predominantly agricultural. It’s honestly not dissimilar to most of the rural agricultural areas throughout the rest of the country,” said Eric Dumbaugh, who leads a center for road safety at Florida Atlantic University in Palm Beach County.

Dumbaugh said crashes on rural highways like this one often follow a pattern, where drivers experience a kind of “highway hypnosis” – cruising down a flat, straight and often dark road, until a bend takes them by surprise. “And then all of a sudden there’s a sharp turn,” he said. “There’s often not much shoulder there, so when you run off the roadway, you run into whatever happens to be on the side of it. Which could be a tree, right? It could be a ditch. Or in the case of Palm Beach County, oftentimes it’s a canal.”

The accident is still setting in for loved ones of the victims, who just days ago were celebrating a major family milestone.

“I keep saying it’s a nightmare,” family member Dawn Wiggins-Ely posted on Facebook. “Lord we need you.”

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David Fischer contributed from Miami.

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Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.