Mother tries to kill self, two autistic sons by driving into gas tanker after telling a friend it is 'god's will'
FLORIDA: A Florida mother planned and attempted to kill herself and her young sons by driving her car into a truck. The police revealed that 48-year-old Melissa Mack told her friend of her plans to crash her car on purpose. The incident took place on August 16.
She had also said that it was "god's will" and that "nothing could be done." Mack had also allegedly said goodbye to her friend. The friend added that she had attempted to reach Mack later on but did not get any response. She later heard about the crash from another friend.
According to WCJB, in her arrest report, the police revealed that Mack was driving on US-441/NW 13th Street in the City of Gainesville with her two children. As per the report, Mack's two young sons are autistic. The report also revealed that she had started to drive northbound in a southbound lane. She had then tried to ram her car on a tanker which was carrying 330 gallons of gas.
However, the truck driver, Paul Dale Hackbarth, managed to swerve out of the way just in time which caused Mack's van to miss. Even though the car missed, the police said Mack managed to do a U-turn and ram the truck from the rear. The impact of the crash resulted in the van's airbags being deployed and left the engine on fire. The front and back windows of the car got shattered on impact. Onlookers and the truck driver rushed to help get Mack and her two sons out of the damaged vehicle, Gainsville reported.
The authorities said the two little boys were extremely upset and were given to the Department of Children & Families. Mack had told the authorities that she remembered only certain details of the incident and claimed to have memory loss. Mack was charged with three counts of premeditated attempted homicide in the first degree. She is currently being held at the Alachua County Jail on a $900,000 bond.