Local Community Leaders in Washington, Indiana have stepped up to pay most of the funeral expenses for Christella Georges. The 29 year old was pregnant when she was killed in the van crash on I69 in Gibson County last month. Doctors did save the baby who remains hospitalized. A fund was recently set up to help offset the funeral expenses. A funeral plot in Montgomery was donated as well.
Any additional funds raised over and above the funeral expenses will be distributed to accident victims. 22 people were injured and two were killed. The other woman killed had family members attending to her burial. Her body was taken to Florida. The account is at First Financial Bank. Donations checks can be made to the “Haitian I-69 Benefit Fund”
Jacques Estime is a local spokesman for the Haitian Community in Washington. He says some of those injured are still not able to work…
Meanwhile, a man who was aboard the overloaded van says he and the van’s other passengers had screamed and yelled at the driver to slow down.
Ernst Auguste tells the Evansville Courier and Press the driver told the passenger to be quiet as the 16-passenger van loaded with the 24 passengers, most if not all of Haitian descent, barreled down Interstate 69. The 59-year-old Auguste says the van was changing lanes along the highway in Gibson County when it blew a tire and then rolled over three to four times. The van was on it’s way from Washington to the Ameriqual factory in Evansville where the passengers were going to work.
The investigation into the crash is continuing. Authorities say the driver could face charges in the Sept. 24 crash.
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