Pastor Jimmy Toney hasn’t left the injured victims of a crash on Interstate 75 alone.
“It was sad, but at the same time humbling and an honor to be able to serve somebody when they’re at their weakest and lowest point,” said Toney, of the Pentecostals of Gainesville, about the victims of the crash.
On Sunday night, about 400 people came to the church’s vigil to honor the seven people, including five children from Louisiana who were on their way to Walt Disney World, who died in a fiery crash on I-75 Thursday.
Families of the victims sat in the front row. Sounds of sniffling and crying could be heard throughout the service as people prayed.
During the service, Toney announced that the church will pay for the burial plots of the five children who died. He also thanked the first responders, doctors and nurses who worked with the injured.
He also bought Chance Bernard, 9, who was among the eight injured, a plane ticket home so he wouldn’t have to travel back in a vehicle.
When Pastor Eric Descant from Avoyelles House of Mercy Church in Marksville, Louisiana, spoke at the vigil, he expressed how he hasn’t been able to get over the thought of his granddaughter, who died in the crash, and the other young victims were in “nonchalant black bags somewhere.”
“I cried so much this morning,” he said. “My tears felt like lava flowing out of a volcano.”
The five children killed were Joel Cloud, 14; Jeremiah Warren, 14; Cierra “Cece” Bordelan, 9; Cara Descant, 13; and Brieana Descant, 10, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Alexis Ikerd, 18, of Marksville, Louisiana, was Bordelan’s cousin. Ikerd said the girl was very excited about the Disney trip and she had just seen her for the holidays.
“Cece was so little. She loved to mess around when she came by,” Ikerd said. “Now we don’t get that back. It’s devastating.”
Several other vigils for the victims took place in Louisiana near Avoyelles House of Mercy.
Shawn Chenevert Davis, of Hessmer, Louisiana, started a GoFundMe page to help the families of the victims. Davis is a member of the Avoyelles House of Mercy, where the passenger van came from.
Davis raised more than $3,000 in two days from both Gainesville and Louisiana donors and is planning to give the money to the church, according to the GoFundMe page.
Neither Avoyelles House of Mercy nor Davis could be reached for comment.
The crash occurred at about 3:40 p.m on Thursday, according to FHP. A semi-truck going northbound on I-75 struck another vehicle in a northbound lane. The cause of the initial crash remains unknown.
Both cars were sent through the guardrail and into the southbound lanes. The passenger van from Avoyelles House of Mercy and another semi were struck by the vehicles. The van overturned, ejecting some passengers and both semis caught on fire.
A fifth vehicle, a Chevrolet truck driven by Mark Houghtaling, 61, of Gainesville, who wasn’t injured, hit at least one of the ejected passengers, according to FHP.
Sara Galvan, 32, of Schaumburg, Illinois, passed by the scene at about 10 p.m. on her way back from a vacation in Siesta Key, Florida.
“Our hearts sank once we saw the condition of the wreck,” Galvan said. “We had seen the road delays stretched for miles and that the accident happened hours before.”
Steve Holland, 59, of West Palm Beach, and Douglas Bolkema, 49, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, were the drivers of the semitrucks involved in the crash. Both died in the crash.
Holland, who drove the semi-truck that began the crash, had received eight traffic citations in Palm Beach County since 2003 including one for careless driving, according to court records.
None of the fatalities were alcohol related, according to FHP. It’s unknown if the children had seatbelts or child restraints on.
Three patients who were involved in the crash have been treated and released from UF Health Shands Hospital. Noah Joffrion, 14; Chance Bernard, 9; and Robyn Rattray, 41, were those released, wrote UF Shands Marketing Coordinator Leah Harms in an email.
Karen Descant, 50; Trinity Woodward, 9; and Amy Joffrion, 45, were still at the hospital in fair condition as of Saturday night, Harms said.
According to Shands’ newsroom website, fair means “vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient is conscious but may be uncomfortable. Indicators are favorable.”
Chelsea Laborde’s, 11, family didn’t want any of her information released, Harms said.
Chelsea Laborde was transported to Shands, according to FHP.
Ali Laborde, 30, and Amy Joffrion were sent to North Florida Regional Medical Center after the crash with serious injuries, according to FHP.
Contact Katherine Wallace-Fernandez at kwallacefernandez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @katwf98.
Contact Josephine Fuller at jfuller@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @jomarieUF.
Contact Taylor Girtman at tgirtman@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @taylorgirtman.
Jimmy Toney, the 45-year-old pastor of The Pentecostals of Gainesville, leads a vigil for the victims of the I-75 accident last Thursday. People filled the church Sunday evening to support the families of the victims and pray for their recovery. “They’ve been stuck in hospitals with doom and gloom and death,” Toney said. “I just think it meant the world.” // Chris Day, The Alligator
