ORLANDO, Fla. – In one of the most devastating crashing in Orlando of this year so far, five people were killed including three children under the age of 10, and one teenager.
The accident took place in Northwest Orange County on Thursday evening, March 12, 2021, when two cars collided near Clarcona Ocoee Road and Gaymar Drive just before 8 p.m.
According to FHP spokeswoman Lt. Kim Montes, two adults were also injured in the car collision, while the children 4- and 5-year-old girls and a 5-month-old boy, were killed as a result of the accident. The children were traveling in the same vehicle at the time of the accident.
The children and adults were family members of Pastor Anthony Oliver, of Taft Missionary Baptist Church. The adults were his daughters and the children, his grandchildren.
“[I’m] just imagining that final impact and what my kids was going through and my grandchildren was saying and I couldn’t be there to protect them, because anytime anything happened, they were always calling for me. ‘Papa! Papa!’ … That’s what hurts, that I wasn’t there.”1
Both drivers did in fact survive the accident thanks in part to their seatbelts. The driver of the car carrying the children, a 28-year old man, suffered minor injuries, while the driver of the car that was hit, a 51-year-old woman, suffered major injuries and was rushed to hospital.
According to witnesses and reports, the car driven by Pastor Oliver’s wife was making a left turn when it was hit by the other driver on the right side. Both cars began flipping. Only the driver, Mrs. Oliver remained in the vehicle which saved her life. The rest of the family was ejected from the vehicle and tragically lost their lives.
Our hearts and souls truly go out to the Oliver family for their loss at this time. To lose a family member is heartbreaking, to lose 5 is truly devastating. The crash is still under investigation and no other information has been released as yet. Authorities initially identified one of the victims as a teenager and some other information.
As of yet, no information as to whether the family has hired an Orlando car accident attorney has been released and no other legal information has been made available to the public.