Niamh Shackleton
Two children have tragically died after a high-speed car crash in Arizona.
On Wednesday (October 23), Tate and Evie were in the car with another of their siblings while their mom, Dani Hancock Porter, was behind the wheel.
But what should have been a normal journey for the family ended in tragedy after Dani crashed the car on the Loop 202 in Mesa, Arizona, into a tow truck resulting in the deaths of nine-year-old Tate and Evie, 11.
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The other child in the car is thought to have gone unharmed, while Dani, 36, was hospitalized.
Speaking after the heartbreaking ordeal, Bart Graves, the Arizona Department of Public Safety Public Information Office told AZFamily that the force of impact will have meant that Tate and Evie 'were killed instantly'.
He said: "'Suffice to say, the force of the impact was such that it not only sheared off the right side of this pickup truck where they were riding, but they were killed instantly by the force of this impact. They didn’t have a chance, and it’s very sad."
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Elsewhere, Graves revealed the children's final moments and said that they'd been 'roughhousing' before the fatal collision.
"As I understand it, it was kids playing loudly, roughhousing in the backseat, or some kind of thing that distracted her from the road, from what she told us," he further explained to the news outlet.
In light of the heartbreaking incident, officials have urged parents to try not get distracted by their kids when driving.
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Jesse Torrez, the director of Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety, explained via ABC affiliate KNXV-TV: "Even if you're looking straight ahead, but your peripheral goes to the right, you have a tendency [to] start to drift left or right. This poor woman just happened to drift to the right.
"And had she drifted either two seconds after she did, she probably would have missed that tow truck."
A friend of the family has created a GoFundMe page in the wake of Tate and Evie's untimely deaths. The target had been set as $20,000, but so far over $163,000 has been raised.
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Roxie Heussner, the person who started the page, penned: "Tate and Evie, age 9 and 11, were tragically killed on the 202 freeway in Arizona today, October 23, 2024, in a car accident. Their parents and siblings are now not only having to face life without two of their children, but a mound of medical and funeral bills just years after one of their children went through a long course of cancer treatment.
"I know not everyone is in a position to give, but if you can, please help. And if you can’t give monetarily, please uplift this family in thoughts and prayers as they face this unimaginable tragedy."
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends on (877) 969-0010.