Two small children who were recently critically injured during a head-on crash with a tow truck have died.
Two-year-old De’Ljay Rocker and one-year-old Ivyana Rocker both died June 22 at UF Shands Hospital after succumbing to their injuries. The children’s mother, 24-year-old Danielle LaToya James of Lowell, suffered serious injuries in the June 19 crash.
James and her two children initially were transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center, but both children were transferred to Shands because of the severity of their injuries.
The crash took place on the night of June 19 on County Road 25A when James’ 1997 Buick Park Avenue slammed head-on into a 2005 GMC tow truck driven by 55-year-old John Douglas Clayton, who told a Florida Highway Patrol trooper that he was traveling north, approaching a curve at the top of a hill when he encountered James’ vehicle 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.