A Lowell woman and two young children suffered major injuries Tuesday night after the car they were traveling in slammed head-on into a tow truck on County Road 25A in Marion County.
Danielle LaToya James, 24, was transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. The two children, 2-year-old Dejay Rocker and 1-year-old Ivyana Rocker, were critically injured. They were taken to Ocala Regional Medical Center and later transferred to UF Shands Hospital in Gainesville.
The driver of the 2005 GMC tow truck, 55-year-old John Douglas Clayton, told a Florida Highway Patrol trooper that he was traveling north on CR 25A, approaching a curve at the top of a hill when he encountered James’ 1997 Buick Park Avenue traveling south in his lane. He said he tried to avoid the crash by steering to the left but was unsuccessful.
After the two vehicles collided, James’ car came to rest in the northbound lane facing southwest. Clayton’s tow truck continued traveling northwest, striking a guardrail before coming to a stop.
Gouge marks on the east side of the double-yellow center line “suggests both vehicles were in the northbound travel lane at the time of the crash,” the FHP report says.
Clayton refused medical treatment at the scene. His passenger, 52-year-old Caren Elizabeth Mills, was transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.