LAURENS COUNTY, S.C. — A pair of teenage girls have died in an ATV crash on a busy highway in South Carolina.
According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the crash happened around 4:40 Thursday afternoon at the intersection of Milton Road and Pickens Street in Joanna. The coroner’s office said Jasmine Peake, 14, and Madison Simmons, 14, of Gray Court, were not wearing helmets and died at the scene.
"She's very sassy, very outgoing," said Wendy Polson when describing her daughter, Madison. "Big heart. always put others before herself. Always."
Polson said her daughter was spending time with her best friend Jasmine on Thursday.
"They were out riding the four-wheeler, just having fun, after schoolwork was done, just having a good time," she added.
The she got the phone call no mother ever wants to get.
"My pastor was finally the one who didn't know how to tell me, and I just asked, 'is she gone,' and he said, 'a mother's intuition already knows,'" Polson said.
Madison had been killed in an accident.
"She'll never be able to get her license, her permit, the first car that she wanted, going to prom: none of that," she said. "She won't get to do any of that."
Troopers say the girls were on a four-wheeler, without helmets and tried to cross the road when they ran into a tractor-trailer. Both girls died at the scene.
"Jasmine was her best friend. Polson said. "They were like sisters. They did youth group together. They did cheerleading together. They did church together. If you saw one, you saw the other."
Polson said the girls were inseparable. In fact, she saw Jasmine so often she considered her another daughter. "I feel like I've lost two," she said.
Polson said she has peace in knowing that they died together. "She just rededicated her life Sunday at church. Knowing she's in a better place. knowing that she didn't suffer and she's in a better place and she went with her best friend."
A prayer vigil will be held at the site of the crash on Sunday.
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