AURORA, Colo. — A family of eight from Missouri is now stranded in Colorado after a fiery crash involving an Amazon truck on Interstate 70 left them without their personal belongings.
Lanayzia Johnson and seven family members traveled to Denver from Columbia, Missouri, to attend the Juneteenth Festival. They were on their way home around 2 a.m. on June 17 when they collided with an Amazon semi-truck. Colorado State Patrol said the truck hit a guard rail and crossed over the median into oncoming traffic.
Both the semi and the SUV caught fire after the collision, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.
"I'm just sitting here, like, blacked out or whatever. I thought I was dead," said Johnson, "I just heard my grandpa say, 'Get up! Get up! Let's go. The car's gonna blow up. The car's gonna blow up!'"
Johnson said they escaped the fiery crash with only the clothes on their back.
"When we got out of the car, it was just burning. The whole time, the whole hood of the car was just on fire," she added.
The family was transported to the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, most with minor injuries. Johnson's 68-year-old uncle, Ralph Robinson, suffered serious injuries. The driver of the Amazon truck was not injured.
"He's in the hospital right now. He's undergoing neck surgery," said Ralph's sister, Annie Allen.
CSP said the semi-truck driver was cited for careless driving resulting in injury. Drugs, alcohol and excessive speed are not suspected in the crash.
The family is temporarily staying at an Aurora hotel, trying to figure out how to get back home. Their identifications, phones and personal belongings were lost in the crash.
"We really just want to get our uncle OK and go back home," said Robinson, "The only thing that we have out of that car is our lives and the clothes that we had on."
"I'm just exhausted and I'm hoping that, you know, that we can all get away from here and get back home," said Allen.
In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Montana MacLachlan said, "This was a terrible accident and we’re thankful everyone is recovering. We have been supporting law enforcement with their investigation, and the driver involved is no longer delivering on behalf of Amazon."
The family has launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help with unexpected expenses.
