Driver facing charges in wreck that killed 3 children

Demaggio Gaines
Brandaeja Cason

By Monica Land

HAYTI, Mo. – Officials from the Missouri Highway Patrol said a Hinds County woman is facing charges related to an accident that injured six passengers and killed three children in May.

Missouri State Trooper Conrad Purnell said 28-year-old Cherrina Walker is facing at least two charges of driving with a suspended license and possession of a controlled substance after the vehicle she was driving blew out a tire and rolled several times.

Purnell said Walker was driving a 2000 Ford Expedition southbound on I-55 near Hayti around 4 p.m. on May 13 when the incident occurred. Purnell said none of her nine passengers were wearing seatbelts and all were ejected from the vehicle.

“They were scattered all over,” Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Kevin Malugen said. “The vehicle ran off the right side of the road in the Hayti community which at this location is surrounded by farms and fields on both sides of the roadway. So, the vehicle overturned in a grassy area and one of the victims – a child – was thrown about 45 feet from the site.”

Malugen said 10-year-old Demaggio Gaines was found in a nearby field and he was transported to Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Hayti where he later died.

Demaggio’s sister, 13-year-old Brandaeja Cason and 6-month old Javon Cason, were also killed in the accident. They were reportedly pronounced dead at the scene.

Malugen said 33-year-old Laressa Gaines, whom they believe to be Demaggio and Brandaeja’s mother and Javon’s grandmother, was severely injured in the crash.

“She sustained several fractures in her neck,” he said, “and a broken spine, and several other breaks on her body.”

Laressa was sitting in the front passenger seat.

A third adult in the vehicle, Destiny Barnes, 25, was also injured as were her three children, 5-year-old Cody Turner, 9-year-old Cory Turner and 4-month-old Deion Barnes.

Malugen said Barnes was sitting on the second row with her three children and Brandaeja and Javon.

Javon Cason

Demaggio was sitting on the third row with Cody and Cory Turner and another child, Joevion Moore. Authorities are unclear as to Moore’s relationship to the other occupants.

Trooper Purnell said the vehicle was overloaded.

“The vehicle had too many passengers in it,” he said. “It was not designed for 10 people. It was designed for eight people as far as the seatbelts and seating locations. It was clearly over the capacity limit.”

Sgt. Malugen said none of the seven children appeared to be wearing seatbelts.

“There were two car seats for the two infants,” Malugen said. “But they were not being used. They were sitting in the car seat, but they were not restrained and the car seats were not buckled into the vehicle.”

Malugen and Purnell said only Walker – the driver – was wearing a seatbelt.

“It’s just a tragic situation,” Malugen said. “We do fatal crashes all the time and every crash we investigate is a tragedy. But there were just too many occupants in this vehicle. But it’s tragic nonetheless.”

Malugen said the passengers were returning home to Jackson, Miss., from a family outing in Des Moines, Iowa.

The accident remains under investigation.

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