LEXINGTON, N.C. — The half-sister of a 3-year-old girl seriously injured in a Tuesday Lexington crash says the toddler is fighting for her life.
"At the moment my sister cannot breathe on her own," said Katie Lankford, the half-sister of Gracie Lankford. "If she doesn’t start breathing on her own the worst may come."
Police say on Tuesday, June 21, 35-year-old Amber Whitaker crash her car into a North Carolina Department of Transportation vehicle on Fairview Drive. According to police, Whitaker was on methadone and had slowed, slurred speech during questioning.
Whitaker was driving her two daughters (a 3-year-old and 4-year-old) along with a 15-year-old and an 8-year-old. The 8-eight-year-old child died two days after the crash.
Whitaker was originally released under a $500 bond. On Saturday, authorities said she is back in custody under a $500,000 bond and with additional charges, including felony death by vehicle and felony serious injury.
"Just because she’s behind bars it’s not over. It’s not over," said Lankford. "It’s just the beginning and even when justice is served it’s still the beginning for my family."
Lankford said her 3-year-old sister has a spinal cord injury and her health is up and down.
"Me and my father (...) have started to prepare for when she gets to come home and I’m not saying if because my baby girl is a fighter," said Lankford. "She’s nicknamed 'Tank' for a reason, she‘s stout. But it’s just one of those things that could’ve been prevented."
According to Lankford, Whitaker had struggled with addiction before but she never thought it would lead to something this bad.
"(Amber Whitaker) has patches where she’ll be clean and she’ll be clean, clean, clean, clean and then I don’t know if she runs into somebody in public, if somebody comes across Facebook, or if she randomly one day wants to go down that road but you never know when," said Lankford.
Lankford hopes there is justice but she said nothing can bring back the 8-year-old who died or take back what happened to her sister.