Teenage girls in single-vehicle crash have connection to Ocala school

Three teenage girls riding in a car that crashed on New Year's Eve on Interstate 75 either attended or were in the process of enrolling in a Marion County high school.

School officials said the driver, Omari Samuel, 17, was an 11th grader at Forest High School. She died in the crash.

Jada Weems, 17, is an 11th grader at Forest, school officials said. She was a passenger in the vehicle and was seriously injured, law enforcement officials said.

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Jada's twin sister, Jaelyn, also was riding in the vehicle and was injured.

The girls' grandmother, Jeroline Mitchell-Holman, said the girls are fraternal twins. She said Jaelyn was supposed to enroll at Forest High School this month.

At her northwest Ocala residence on Wednesday, Mitchell-Holman said she visited her granddaughters on Tuesday night at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, where they are being treated in the intensive care unit.

Mitchell-Holman said each girl has undergone two surgeries, and there could be more. She said Jada has a broken arm, fractured ribs and one rib has punctured her lungs. Jaelyn's arms are broken, along with other injuries, she said.

"This is really tough," Mitchell-Holman said.

Forest High School principal: 'Omari was an important member of our school community'

The girls' grandmother said though she has seen Omari, she did not know her. She said Omari and her granddaughters were friends.

At Omari's northwest Ocala home, which is not far from Jada and Jaelyn's home, no one was present on Wednesday.

Forest High School Principal Lamar Rembert said in a message sent to the Star-Banner: “Omari was an important member of our school community, and she will be missed by the students and staff at Forest High School."

Rembert added: "We pray for successful and speedy recoveries for the Weems family as well. We have reached out to extend our support to all families involved. This is a very trying time for these families and we want to respect their processes for dealing with this tragedy.”

Greif counselors are expected at the school on Thursday, the first day of school following the holiday break. They will be available as long as they're needed, school officials said.

How the crash happened

According to FHP officials, the girls, along with a fourth person, identified by troopers only as a 19-year-old man from Ocala, were in a car traveling northbound on I-75.

Omari lost control of the vehicle and it veered off the roadway to the right.

Troopers said the vehicle hit a ditch and then a tree. The car eventually stopped roughly 10 feet away from the tree in a wood line on the east shoulder, officials said. The crash occurred by the exit ramp at mile marker 384, which is Archer Road.

Officials said it appears speed was a factor in the crash, which happened at 10:48 p.m. Dec. 31.

Young lives lost

Last year, several juveniles and area students lost their lives in traffic-related crashes.

In early December, 10-year-old Mason Meyers of Dunnellon was riding an ATV when it overturned on him, FHP officials said. Mason was taken to a hospital, where he later died, troopers said. The little boy was a fourth grader at Sunrise Elementary School.

Just days before Christmas, an 11-year-old Ocala boy and a 40-year-old man were killed on the Florida Turnpike in Sumter County when their vehicle was hit by another vehicle. FHP officials said the vehicle the victims were in overturned multiple times.

Traffic death count for 2022

In Marion County, the FHP investigated 99 traffic deaths in 2022. The figure does not included tallies from the cities of Ocala, Belleview and Dunnellon.

Of the 99 deaths, 16 happened in December, and five of those between Dec. 26 and 31.

Three of the five happened within 12 hours of each other on Dec. 30, according to records. A fourth was on Dec. 26, and the fifth was a hit-and-run crash that claimed the life of a 40-year-old Ocala man on Dec. 31 shortly before 11:30 p.m.

In that hit-and-run crash, FHP officials said the vehicle was northbound in the left turn lane of Baseline Road, south of Southeast 28th Street, when it struck a pedestrian who was standing in the left turn lane.

Troopers said they need assistance in trying to find the vehicle, which they think may be a car that has front-end damage and possibly a damaged front windshield.

Anyone with any information about the crash can call Traffic Homicide Investigator Cpl. Justin Bard at (352) 512-6643, Crime Stoppers at (352)368-STOP(7867), or visit www.crimestoppers.com

Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com or @almillerosb

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: More details on fatal I-75 crash in Alachua County on New Year's Eve