Sky Lhamon, 13, died in a fatal car crash where she stole her foster mother’s minivan and drove on an Ohio highway
A 13-year-old girl who stole her foster mother’s minivan and drove on the highway, has died in a head-on collision with a semitrailer truck.
The tragic accident took place in Springfield, Ohio when Sky Lhamon took her foster mother’s vehicle Thursday night and crashed into the truck.
She was reported dead at the scene and was identified by Shelby County officials on Friday.
The devastating crash crushed the front of both vehicles into a mangle of metal.
Officials say that she was wearing a seat belt as she drove left of the center of highway Ohio 235 in Clark County, leading to the accident around 9pm.
The driver of the semitrailer saw her and swerved in an attempt to avoid her, but the two ended up ramming head-on, causing the van to flip over.
Lhamon was in permanent custody of the county’s children’s services.
Her foster mother alerted the agency early Thursday evening that the little girl had taken off in her minivan, according to the Dayton Daily News.
The devastating crash crushed the front of both vehicles into a mangle of metal, minivan pictured flipped over above
Police rushed to the scene where Lhamon was pronounced dead. Her motive for taking her foster mother’s car is not clear, the Child Services Agency said there was no crisis prior to the accident
Police were then notified. The agency added that there was no crisis that led to the crash.
‘It is always tragic when a young life is cut short. We wish to express our deepest sympathy to the family of Sky especially to her two sisters. Additionally, the foster parent has suffered a loss in the death of someone who became a family member,’ Shelby County Children Services officials said.
Michkel Rakestraw was behind Lhamon on the highway and witnessed the crash.
‘It looked bad. I said to myself, I find it hard to believe that whoever was in that van was going to come out of that alive. That’s how bad it looked to me. The van went left of center and the semi tried to avoid it, and that’s what caused the crash,’ he said to Dayton Daily News.
When he was told that the driver behind the wheel of the minivan was a 13-year-old he said: ‘That breaks my heart’.
It is unclear if the driver of the semi was injured in the crash, according to New Carlisle News.