VOICES OF VICTIMS
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Turning Pain Into Purpose
aitlyn was just 18 years old when she was driving home from a carefree day at the beach with her best friend and new puppy when her life was tragically ended. A 10,000-pound furniture delivery truck swerved into Kaitlyn’s lane and crashed directly into her car. The driver was under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, THC, and barbiturates while driving on a suspended license. Kaitlyn was killed instantly. “It is a mother’s worst nightmare,” Kaitlyn’s mother, Tammy, says. “The loss of a child is hell on earth.” The hopes and dreams of a vibrant teenager were shattered in an instant. Kaitlyn was about to graduate from high school and pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. She had just completed a Girl Scout Gold Award project and was preparing to submit her final project.
n April 10, 2016, two drunk drivers changed Michelle Ramsey Hawkin’s life forever. Traveling back from a housewarming party with her children, 15-year-old daughter Kaylee, 6-year-old Khaiden, and 4-year-old Samuel, her two boys, Khaiden and Samuel were killed by a drunk driver.
As Michelle was driving home, the events of that night were already beginning to unfold. Up ahead, a trash compacter
fell from the back of a pickup truck. The driver of the pickup truck, who had two previous DUI convictions, was driving drunk that night. He didn’t bother to stop. A minute later, Michelle crashed into the trash compacter. Meanwhile, two good Samaritans, a father and his teenage son who’d heard the initial crash from their home, set up orange safety triangles to divert traffic around the wreck. A drunk driver, a man with blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit crashed through the safety triangles and crashed into the Hawkins family.
The judge who oversaw the case called it one of the worst impaired driving cases he had seen. “Every bit of this was preventable,” he remarked. Yet one man’s reckless choices destroyed a beautiful young life and crushed her entire family. Because no family should have to suffer such an unimaginable loss, Tammy has turned her pain into purpose, becoming a volunteer with MADD as a MADD National Ambassador. Today, she courageously shares her family’s devastating experience to shed light on the dangers of impaired driving.
When Michelle awoke, she was lying on the ground and couldn’t move or see but could hear her daughter’s cries. And she immediately understood the absence of her sons’. They were gone. For two years, the man who killed Michelle’s sons and injured three others walked free. Finally, on July 26, 2018, a judge sentenced him to 19 years in prison. The drunk driver who dropped the trash compactor and set into motion the events of that night is out of jail. “Mothers Against Drunk Driving was there for my family at the beginning. My MADD Victims Services Specialist showed up every step of the way with support and information. Today, she is like a second mother to me. It is with her encouragement that I share our story,” said Michelle Ramsey Hawkins. Today, Michelle is a dedicated volunteer with MADD and serves as a MADD National Ambassador advocating to end impaired driving.
9 I IMPACT REPORT 2023
MADD.ORG I 10
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