State patrol probes I-75 crash that injured 2-year-old twins and Houston County deputy
A crash on Interstate 75 in south Houston County that injured three children, their mother and a sheriff’s deputy during a March 27 traffic stop was still being investigated by the Georgia State Patrol.
The wreck happened shortly before noon when Houston sheriff’s deputy Mark Heberlig pulled over a 21-year-old Thomasville woman for an as-yet-unspecified alleged traffic violation.
The woman, Re’mya Howard, said to have been at the wheel of a northbound 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe, stopped in the freeway’s left emergency lane, according to a summary of the crash from the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
“The Deputy was going to arrest the driver and had called for a second Deputy, with the Juvenile Division, to assist him with transporting the three children, a six-year-old female and a set of two-year-old male twins,” the summary noted.
The children were taken out of the Tahoe and the twins, still in their car seats, were placed on the ground next to the SUV, the summary said, adding that the 6-year-old girl was thought to have been standing with Howard near a guardrail in the freeway’s median.
The grass-and-pavement median there just south of an Elko exit at mile marker 126 between Perry and Unadilla is maybe 15 feet wide.
While the mother and children were beside the Tahoe, the summary said, the second sheriff’s deputy arrived. The second deputy parked her patrol SUV behind the first deputy’s patrol car so the twins’ car seats could be loaded.
Meanwhile, a tow truck began backing up to haul away Howard’s Tahoe.
The summary said it was then that an apparently northbound 2007 GMC Duramax pickup truck that was towing a trailer with a Chevy Silverado on it veered into the grassy median.
“The GMC travels down the left side of (the second deputy’s SUV), just missing the deputy, striking the open left passenger door,” the summary stated. “The GMC continues down the median and strikes (deputy Heberlig). The GMC then continues on and strikes (Howard) and the three children” before hitting the tow truck and stopping.
The extent of the victims’ injuries was not mentioned, though Heberlig, Howard and her three children were taken to hospitals, the summary said.
Houston sheriff’s officials declined comment and referred questions to the state patrol.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 4:54 PM.