Please, please pray for this family. This was a teacher at Blake's preschool and I also volunteered with her in our church's 3 year old bible class. She leaves behind a 3 year old daughter and 1 year old son. God help them. My heart breaks for that precious little girl that is missing her Mommy. Her daughter's name is Adia...please pray for them.


Mother dies, 2 children hurt in north Fort Worth wreck
Posted Thursday, Apr. 29, 2010

BY ADRIAN MCCANDLESS AND BILL MILLER

Star-Telegram

A woman was killed and her two children, ages 1 and 3, were injured Thursday morning when a vehicle overturned in north Fort Worth.

The woman who died was Dawna Casey, 33, of Fort Worth, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's office.

The wreck was reported at 8 a.m. in the 3300 block of North Tarrant Parkway, just west of the road's intersection with Old Denton Road.

The family was eastbound in a white Toyota Highlander, said Sgt. Pedro Criado, the police spokesman. He said investigators learned that the Toyota Casey drove was traveling at a "high rate of speed" while passing other vehicles just before the wreck.

Police at the scene said the sports utility vehicle was a 2010 model; vehicles from that class were involved in this year's floor mat recall and some were recalled for sticking accelerators, according to the Toyota website.

Police said Thursday that their findings on the wreck were "preliminary." They had no information about mechanical problems in Toyota vehicles.

The Highlander "swerved to the left traveling in the center median, passing vehicles, and then swerved back to the right onto the main roadway," Criado said.

Next, the SUV "swerved to the right and traveled through the bar ditch striking a concrete culvert," he said.

The Highlander then "went airborne," Criado said, adding that "upon landing, (it) began to flip side to side until it came to a rest in a field on its side."

Cheryl Givens of Fort Worth, who had been in traffic with the Highlander, said that before the wreck, the SUV had tried to pass her on the left.

The passing lane, however, was occupied by another vehicle, so the SUV "drove fast on the grass median for a bit."

The SUV, Givens said, passed other vehicles and returned to the roadway, then veered to the right and off of the roadway.

The Highlander rolled "many times until it stopped," Givens said.

Casey, Givens said, was pinned in the wreckage, but "there were many civilians that came to try and help hold the vehicle up."

The children, a boy and a girl, were "properly restrained" in car seats, Criado said.

They were taken in good condition to Cook Children's Medical Center, he said.

Their mother died at the scene, the medical examiner reported.

The scene was near the Monterra Village apartment complex and not far from Fossil Ridge High School in the Keller school district.

Kellie Mayhew, manager at the apartment complex, said she saw the children being rescued from the wreckage by emergency response crews.

"They weren't crying and seemed to be OK," Mayhew said. "They seemed to be in shock."

Debris was strewn on the roadway and field, including backpacks and a stroller.

The Highlander was so badly damaged that it was difficult to tell what type of vehicle was involved.

"I'm so thankful the kids were in their car seats and restrained properly," Givens said, "and that so many good people came to help."

Keller Citizen writer Alice Murray contributed to this report