Family recovering after car crashes through Wilmington CVS

WILMINGTON, Ohio (WKRC) - A local mother is recovering in the hospital after she and her little boys were victims of a freak crash last Wednesday.

Wilmington Police Chief Ron Cravens says a man driving a black Kia Sorrento was driving southbound on S. Walnut Street and hit a utility pole at the corner of S. Walnut and E. Main streets. The car then struck a fire hydrant, went through the downtown CVS store parking lot and crashed into the front of the CVS store.

Jessica Holden and her young boys were just steps in front of the door.

"I just walked through the second doors and I heard a crash, and I look behind me and there was a car coming towards us, and I tried to run, but the car was going so fast; it was just no moving fast enough,” Holden said.

Holden, her fiancé and her two boys went to CVS last Wednesday to pick up Clorox wipes.

“The 11-month-old and the dad were a little bit farther ahead. Me and the 7-year-old were walking together; he was in one of those carts that has a car attached on the front, like a little play car, and me and him both got hit,” Holden said. “The cops said that the cart probably saved him.”

She says she was in the store for less than a minute when the crash happened.

"[The 7-year-old] was unresponsive for a few seconds. I remember looking up and he was just hanging out of the cart, and it was the most terrifying seconds of my life,” Holden said. “He ended up being OK; he got three staples and he has some major bruising, but he’s OK.”

Her other son and fiancé were not hurt.

“I'm just really grateful to be here,” Holden said. “It’s so hard to believe, it’s just crazy. You would never think something like that would happen.”

Despite the physical and emotional toll this has taken on her family, Holden says the hardest part is being away from her kids.

"Jessica has never been away from her boys. They've never been separated from Mommy. Jarred does have autism, so he doesn't see things the way other kids do,” Leah Holden, Jessica’s mom, said.

“I know how much trauma he went through, my 7-year-old. He was in the ambulance with me; he thought I was dead.” Holden said.

As Holden recovers in the hospital with head and leg injuries, her message to the driver: “I just hope that he’s OK. And I hope that his family is OK.”

Police say the driver is a 35-year-old male but have not released his name because he has not been arrested or officially charged at this time. At last check, he was taken to the hospital for treatment for his injuries.

Police say no CVS employees were physically injured. At least two other cars were damaged.

If you'd like to donate to this Holden family’s medical costs, click here for their GoFundMe.