GASTONIA, N.C. — Gastonia police said Thursday that the driver charged for causing a crash that killed a pregnant mother of six has died from his injuries.
Pregnant 34-year-old Samantah Kay Thomas, of Kings Mountain, was killed in the crash in Gastonia Monday.
Police said Thomas was driving a Honda Civic when a Cadillac STS, driven by Julius Dalpiaz, 83, pulled in front of her car on West Garrison Boulevard at South Vance Street.
Thomas' 11-month-old, Cornell Thomas Jr., was injured in the crash, but is expected to be OK. She has five other children.
Officials said there was nothing Thomas could do to avoid the crash. Family members told Channel 9 she was three months pregnant.
She had just seen her husband, Cornell Thomas, moments before the crash. He had helped her at a nearby gas station because her car wouldn't start.
Thomas had recently recorded a video tribute to her husband, which he shared with Channel 9.
“I just want to tell you how much I love you, how grateful I am that you are in my life and how excited I am to spend the rest of my life with you,” Thomas said in the video.
A heartbroken Cornell Thomas and his wife were expecting their second child, already named Elijah.
He would have been her seventh child.
“I forgot to tell her I love her, and I called her twice and she didn’t answer the phone,” Cornell said.
Dalpiaz, whowas charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle, suffered severe injuries and died Thursday morning.
Another passenger in Thomas’ car -- her brother-in-law Sherman Thomas, 61 -- suffered facial injuries in the crash, police said. He is out of the hospital.
Samantha Thomas’ family told Channel 9 that they were concerned for the family of Dalpiaz. They said they are not angry at the other driver and that Thomas was a forgiving woman.
“I’m praying for you all too, man,” Cornell Thomas said. “This was an accident."
Channel 9's news partners at the Gaston Gazette said Dalpiaz is well known for his political work alongside Ronald Reagan and both Bush presidents.
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