Driver not charged after crash that left 7-year-old cheerleader in a coma, mother says

WSBTV.com News Staff
·2 min read

Police are investigating a crash that left a 7-year-old cheerleader fighting for her life.

Now, the family is wondering why police haven’t charged the driver who hit them.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was in DeKalb County, where the crash happened on I-85 South in Chamblee just two days before Christmas. Ashley Askew said that the family car broke down on the highway, so she let the car drift to the to the HOV lane and stop on the left shoulder, which is when a woman slammed into their car.

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The child, Leyla Askew, was preparing for a big cheerleading competition in Las Vegas. Now, she’s in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury.

“My vehicle decided to stop,” Ashley Marion, Leyla’s mother, said. “There’s no way I can get all the way to the right when the speedometer is dropping and all these cars are flying past, so I was like, ‘The closest lane is the HOV lane.’”

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Marion said several other cars moved out of the HOV lane to avoid hitting them, but one car didn’t.

“I was immediately knocked unconscious. I had no idea we were in an accident,” Marion said. “We get to the hospital and I found out my baby suffered a traumatic brain injury and she has to undergo surgery. I had to watch my baby for 17 days hooked up to a ventilator.”

According to the police report, the driver stopped and gave her information to paramedics, but when a police officer told her to stand by, she left the scene with a relative.

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Police are not classifying the crash as a hit-and-run, but said they are still investigating.

“That’s still leaving the scene of an accident,” Marion said.

Fernandes did some digging and found that the driver, Juaoquim Washington, has a warrant out of Douglas County for failing to appear in court on speeding and drug charges.

Fernandes spoke to Washington on the phone, who said DeKalb police let her leave the scene and that even she was surprised she wasn’t arrested for that warrant out of Douglas County.

DeKalb County police said they stand by what they wrote in the police report, saying Washington left the scene before they could give her a citation.

The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses.