Teen Dead, Others Injured in Church Van Crash
Posted/updated on: June 13, 2011 at 10:32 am
SMITH COUNTY — A teenager has died, and others have been injured, in a church van crash near Tyler. Members from a church in Louisiana were visiting an East Texas waterpark this weekend. As they were headed back home Saturday evening, their van, carrying children and adults, ran off the road.
Around 6 p.m., church members still gathered on the hill where the accident happened on I-20 near Barber Road. They tell KETK several vehicles were in a caravan coming back from the waterpark when a tire burst on the van. Witnesses say there were around 11 people in the van, and several were thrown from the vehicle. 19-year-old J’Amarco Greenard, or J.J. as his friends and family call him, was pinned under the van. Church members say he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other children and adults were taken to Tyler hospitals. Two were flown by helicopter. The church members say they are making sure friends and family in Louisiana know what happened so they can head to East Texas.
