FAYETTE COUNTY, Tenn. — The Tennessee Highway Patrol shared a sad message Monday following a tragic weekend crash that took the lives of three children and a woman.
According to the crash report, troopers think the woman had been drinking, but investigators said they’re still waiting for official test results. The report also found that no one in the car was wearing a seat belt.
While family and friends are mourning the loss of 34-year-old Latricia Taylor, her 9-year-old son Kylan, her 7-year-old nephew Dylan and her 3-year-old niece Kayleigh, THP wants to remind everyone who gets in a vehicle to wear a seat belt.
Troopers said Taylor’s Buick collided with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 269, just outside of Collierville, around 1 a.m. Sunday.
Investigators said Taylor was driving on the wrong side of I-269 when she hit a tractor-trailer carrying frozen meat. Everyone in her car died.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured.
According to a report released on October 16, authorities said it’s unclear if Taylor was drinking prior to the incident. They are still waiting for test results to be returned.
The report also said no one in Taylor’s car was wearing their seat belt, and the children were not in safety seats.
“Just love on us for a minute, Memphis. Just do that,” a family member said. “That’s what we need.”
Family members WREG spoke with said they didn’t know Taylor to be a drinker, and she’s a hard worker and a wonderful mother who was tired and made a terrible mistake.
“It’s so heartbreaking to know what these families are going through,” THP Sergeant Chris Richardson said.
Richardson said while this is a tough case, it’s also a sad reminder to always wear a seat belt.
“We have no way of knowing now whether any of these people would’ve survived this crash because they were ejected,” Richardson said. “There’s nothing worth your life and just that couple extra little seconds it takes to snap that seat belt.”
No one was charged in the crash.
