A mother, father and two children died in a three-vehicle wreck on Interstate 77 in Surry County after the father fell asleep and his minivan crossed the median, hitting two vehicles head-on, North Carolina authorities said.
State Highway Patrol Capt. Everett Clendenin says 44-year-old Wayne Pride-Hicks, of Queens, was driving south Friday when his van crossed the median and struck a pickup truck and another car around 9 a.m.
Pride-Hicks was taking his family to North Carolina to introduce them to his biological father, Leroy Rumph, when disaster struck, according to The New York Daily News.
Pride-Hicks died, along with his 38-year-old wife Natalie; 9-year-old son Wayne Jr.; and 2-year-old daughter Natalya. Three other children in the minivan survived.
"We were looking forward to meeting the family for the first time," said Rumph, who owns a dry clenaing business in Alabama. The 67-year-old told the Daily News he gave his son the money to make the trip from New York. "It was supposed to be a nice weekend. Now, we don't know what we're going to do."
Pride-Hicks was a deacon at the Community Church of Christ in Jamaica along with his wife, who was also a home health aide for children with disabilities on Long Island. Their children went to Public School 50 in Jamaica, according to the Daily News.
"They're jewels," said Bishop Lester Williams of the Community Church. "In all of my years of pastoring this is the worst tragedy I've ever had to sustain. You never imagine the funeral of a mother, father and children."
The three children who survived the crash -- 5-year-old Elijah, 7-year-old John and 5-year-old Josiah -- were taken to the hospital for treatment but are expected to be OK. They are now in the custody of North Carolina authorities and a custody hearing is likely to happen early next week, according to the Daily News. Williams said he and his wife plan to petition the court for legal guardianship. He is the godfather of all Pride-Hicks' children.
The couple in the pickup truck was hospitalized in critical condition. The driver of the other car was treated and released, reported the Daily News.
The highway was closed in both directions either because of the wreck or because the lanes were needed for medical helicopters.
