Dedication: Ashley Avant
On October 19, 2019, in the small town of Andrews, South Carolina, the sound of children’s laughter from a church fall festival still hung in the air. Minutes later, the happiness of the evening would be shattered by the sound of crushing metal, shattering glass and the agonizing screams of a 9-year-old child.
Thirty-year-old wife and mother, Ashley Avant, needed to run an errand. It was decided that she would drop her eldest daughter, AnLee, off at her parent’s home to visit with her great grandmother while her twins, Lydia and Evie, would remain behind at the church with Ashley’s parents. They were turning into Ashley’s parent’s driveway when they were slammed into by a multiple time repeat drunk driver. The offender was driving 80 mph at the point of impact with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.122. Instead of calling for help, the offender jumped out of his car and ran into the woods. Ashley would succumb to her injuries at the hospital.
The offender had multiple previous DUI/BUI arrests in his history with no convictions to our current understanding. On September 1, 2022, the offender entered a negotiated guilty plea to two counts of felony driving under the influence. He was sentenced to 13 years on each of the two counts, both sentences were suspended to 10 years. The sentences will run concurrently with him receiving credit for the 1,048 days he remained in jail since his arrest in October 2019. Ashley was a beloved mother, wife, daughter and sister. Her family was the most important thing in the world to her. She loved the water and spending time with her daughters at the pool, the lake, and the ocean. Ashley was very active in her church, and when she met Ken, she brought him into that aspect of her life. The winter that her twins were three months old, she would bundle up her three daughters and drive the 20 minutes to church in the freezing cold. She would carry in two infant car seats with Anlee walking alongside to a room in the back of the church. Her pastor asked why she brought the children to church in the c old when she could teach them at home. Ashley’s response was that God lives in her home, but his spirit was there in the church. She also wanted to teach the girls the importance of showing up. Ashley will be forever missed, especially by her daughters who are forced to grow up without a mother. In Ashley’s memory, along with so many others’, we push for a time, sooner rather than later, when every DUI is taken as the serious and dangerous offense that it is. South Carolina failed Ashley and her family. We can and must do better.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online