It’s a Miracle Nobody was Killed: Mother Thankful Family Safe After Wreck

Editor’s Note: This story is being rerun to include additional information.

On the Friday of February 6th, Beth Anne Jackson was driving through Keysville just as she has done hundreds of times before. Her three young daughters, Abigale, 5 years, Alexis, 2 years and Adriana, a mere 7 months old, were safely strapped into their car seats in the large 2014 Ford Explorer that Beth Anne was driving. One child occupied each seat, a strategy Beth Anne told the Southside Messenger that “… just made it easier to get them in and out.” There may have been more of a reason behind the habit than she realized.

As Mrs. Jackson slowed to make a left onto Four Locust Highway from the direction of Charlotte Court House, she was met with the unexpected. On that “same as any other” Friday afternoon in Keysville, one of the worst fears of a young mother’s life became a horrible reality in an instant. Her Ford Explorer was slammed into broadside by a full sized Ford van driven by Calvin Stemley.

The force of the crash employed all of Mrs. Jackson’s airbags as the van rammed her Explorer full force at the intersection. According to reports, allegedly Mr. Stemley didn’t see Mrs. Jackson’s full-sized Explorer sitting in the intersection signaling to make a left turn, so he proceeded to go after stopping at the intersection’s stop sign.

His vehicle hit hers with such force, however, that it caved in the side of the heavy Explorer Mrs. Jackson was driving, and employed her airbags. The impact was so hard it broke a case of bottled water; wrapped plastic bottles that were in the back of her vehicle.

Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt in the accident. Somehow, none of the three precious pieces of cargo riding in the car seats in the back of the smashed up Ford Explorer had more than bruises on them, and Mrs. Jackson’s shoulder was injured from the impact. The outcome hardly seemed possible judging from the damage to the vehicle. Mrs. Jackson told The Southside Messenger that she is grateful beyond words for the response to the accident by emergency services. Charlotte County Rescue Squad and Keysville Fire and Rescue were on the scene in minutes. Another small miracle to add to the fact that nobody was seriously hurt showed itself in the form of a Good Samaritan. The wife of one of the firemen working the scene stopped and made sure the three young ones had a warm place to sit while the accident was tended to.

Beth Anne Jackson has much to be thankful for today. The car accident left her without a vehicle, it is true. Vehicles come and they go. It’s what was inside that was irreplaceable. Some of us will continue to wonder and speculate how those girls stayed safe last Friday afternoon, some of us will not. Some of us know a miracle when it happens…