Family of nine Glades fatal crash victims grieves amid 'nightmare.' NTSB investigates cause
BELLE GLADE — “Wake me up from this Nightmare."
Patrice Wiggins shared the plea and prayer on her public Facebook page on Tuesday, hours after losing nine members of her family in an SUV crash Monday night, the worst fatal crash in Palm Beach County in recent memory.
Gone was her mother, Pamela Wiggins, who was behind the wheel of the 2023 Ford Explorer as it crashed into a canal about 15 miles northeast of Belle Glade. The wreck happened one day before Pamela's 57th birthday.
Gone, too, were her 30-year-old sister, Leiana Hall, and seven other relatives, six of them age 15 or under. Aniya Tucker, a 21-year-old who also died in the crash, was looking forward to celebrating her own daughter’s birthday party next month.
“Ma, Pick up the Phone. Leiana, I don’t have no other sister. Aniya answer my Text,” Patrice wrote on her Facebook page. She confirmed Wednesday that she wrote the post but declined to be interviewed.
Killed in the crash besides Wiggins, Hall and Tucker were Michael Anthony Hall Jr., 14; Imani Hall, 9; Kamdien Edwards, 5; Yasire Smith, 5; Ziaire Mack, 3; and Naleia Tucker, 23 months.
Kamdien Edwards and Anyia Tucker were from Connecticut, while 3-year-old Ziaire Mack was from Virginia. Places of residence for the other passengers were not immediately available.
One person survived the SUV's plunge into the 6-foot-deep muddy waters off Hatton Highway. Jorden Hall, 26, remained in serious condition at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. A place of residence for him was unavailable as well.
What caused fatal wreck? NTSB to examine vehicle, road, human factors
Hoping to find answers, a team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday began examining the area where the SUV went off the road.
The federal agency will spend the next five to seven days examining the site, with its preliminary findings expected to be released within 30 days, NTSB board member Alvin Brown said during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Sheriff Office's headquarters near West Palm Beach.
"Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened and to recommend changes to prevent this from happening again," said Brown, whose agency's investigation parallels one led by the sheriff's office.
Brown said federal investigators will examine vehicle factors, highway design and human factors. While the NTSB is largely known for its role in investigating aviation incidents, Brown said the agency also investigates significant traffic crashes.
"We investigate crashes that we can learn from, that are catastrophic in nature," he said. "We have the best investigators in the country. We have the gold standard, and we believe that this crash was catastrophic, a tragic event, and that's why we're here."
Investigators will be looking into whether the vehicle was over its passenger capacity and whether the occupants of the SUV were using safety restraints, Brown said.
All 10 people inside the Ford Explorer were visiting Florida from other states
Investigators say the crash happened just before 7:30 p.m. Monday on the 5800 block of Hatton, a two-lane road west of Twenty-Mile Bend flanked by fields and electrical poles.
The 10 people inside the Explorer appeared to be headed toward a South Florida airport to return home. The sheriff's office said Wednesday that it could not yet say where the SUV was going when the crash happened and why it was driving along a remote road in The Glades.
Pamela Wiggins posted on Facebook on Aug. 1 that she and other family members were going to Cape Coral in Lee County to celebrate her own mother's 80th birthday. On Aug. 5, she wrote a post thanking all those who traveled with her.
According to a sheriff's report, the Explorer was approaching a sharp, narrow curve in the roadway near Conners Highway when, for unknown reasons, it struck the guardrail and overturned as it went into the canal.
It wasn't immediately known how first responders learned of the wreck. The sheriff's office on Wednesday declined to make a 911 recording available, saying the crash remained under investigation.
Prayers, heartfelt messages for victims 'taken away too soon'
Patrice Wiggins on Monday began an online fundraising drive to cover the funeral costs of her mother and the eight others. As of Wednesday afternoon, the GoFundMe page had raised nearly $29,000.
An outpouring of posts flooded social media within 48 hours of the crash with pictures, prayers and heartfelt messages for Pamela Wiggins and her family, saying they "were taken away too soon.”
Pamela's daughter, friends and family members said she was an involved, caring, faith-driven person who "just showed up for people.”
“Pamela Wiggins you were holding people together even when they didn't act right, you provided shelter, love, transportation even when you didn't feel 100%,” a person identified as Dawn Wiggins-Ely posted on Facebook. “There is so much we didn't get to do!!!"
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Family of 9 Glades fatal crash victims share grief after 'nightmare'
