A 5-year-old girl died after a single-car crash Saturday near the Arlington Municipal Airport, police say.
The girl’s mother, 25-year-old Valencia Freeman, was arrested on one count of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault-serious bodily injury, according to police.
Police said Freeman was driving the sedan and apparently lost control of the vehicle along the 5100 block of South Collins Street, crashing into a utility pole.
Deunna Fairchild, 5, was pronounced dead at the hospital at 10:53 a.m.
"We kind of taking it hard," said Fairchild’s grandmother, Eania Ensley. "That’s my grandbaby I got to bury."
Freeman and her three other children — ages 5, 9 and 10 — were hospitalized, along with two other adults in the car.
Freeman’s two sons, 9-year-old Arjawon Chilbli and Deunna’s twin, 5-year-old Devontae Fairchild, played for the Arlington Knights Youth Football team. The family was headed to Saturday’s football game when the crash happened.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"This is terrible," said Arlington Knight’s founder, Monica Willis. "This is like, the worst thing ever."
The team held a prayer vigil for Deunna Fairchild and her family Sunday afternoon at Beckham Elementary School in Arlington, where the team holds practice.
"To some people, it’s just a pee-wee football association. But to me, these 136 kids, they’re my kids," said Willis. "They hurt. I hurt."
In 2011, an Arlington Knights player on his way to practice was killed by a drunken driver.
"You can’t keep losing kids like this," Willis said. "Can’t keep getting those phone calls. You can’t keep getting those messages that another one of your children is gone."
According to the Arlington police, speed and impairment were contributing factors in the crash.
