A survivor of a golf cart crash in Statesville that killed a man and his two children is sharing what she remembers from that night three years ago.
[ TRAIL COVERAGE: Testimony begins for driver accused of deadly golf cart crash in Iredell County ]
The family members died when a suspected drunk driver crossed into their lane.
The father’s fiancé fought back tears Thursday through portions of her testimony as she recounted the violent crash.
She described for the jury the moment she tossed her young daughter off the golf cart as the car headed straight toward them.
More than three years after the crash, Amy Mills walked slowly to the witness stand.
She lost a portion of her leg because of the wreck on Fort Dobbs Road.
Prosecutors played video of her recounting the crash from her hospital bed where she spent a month recovering.
Her fiancé, Michael Marlowe, along with their son, Bentley, and Marlowe’s 13-year-old daughter died in the wreck.
Mills spoke about how she tried to save their two-year-old daughter, Bailey, by tossing her off the golf cart seconds before impact.
“Because that was my first instinct,” Mills said. “I knew we were going to get hit. She was so little. So, I just threw her. I just threw her and hoped for the best.”
Austin Harmon is accused of driving drunk when prosecutors say he crossed the centerline on Fort Dobbs Road and struck the family’s golf cart in June of 2022. First responders testified about the chaotic scene that night.
“I seen a baby laying in the road,” said Chief Todd Lendernan. “I seen one face down that was deceased. I seen another with people working on it, and I seen the mother and they’re yelling, ‘Please get me more tourniquets.’”
Paramedics also testified that immediately after the wreck, they could see Harmon carrying the child Mills had thrown from the golf cart. Mills told the jury that Harmon came up to her with her daughter, Bailey, who survived the crash.
“I kept saying, ‘I have to find my kid. I needed my kid,’” Mills said. “So, they went and got her, and they sat behind me.”
She said that person with her child was Harmon.
The defense has not cross-examined Mills. One of the things they may bring up is her testimony that her fiancé had a beer earlier that night. The case will resume Monday morning.
VIDEO: Testimony begins for driver accused of deadly golf cart crash in Iredell County
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