CBS 19 - The Eye of East Texas News - Gladewater Family Speaks After Fatal Wreck

Gladewater Family Speaks After Fatal Wreck

By:ShaVonne Herndon

"Daddy why, the Lord wanted him momma," cried the Gladewater family. Vickie Caton and her family are mourning the loss of four-year-old Jonathan King, Jr.

"The truck flipped and I remember screaming my babies my babies," explained Caton. Vickie Caton said she was driving on Highway 271 when the kids started to open up some candy, she then turned around for a moment, and that's when she lost control of the truck and hit a culvert.

"They didn't tell me that one was laying in the back of the truck dead," she explained. "It was Jonathan, he was the sweetest most kindest little child. "

According to D.P.S. reports, none of the kids were wearing a seat belt, but Vickie said that's wrong, "I don't know who leaked it that they didn't have seat belts on they did or i would have never pulled the vehicle off until they have their seat belts on."

This isn't the first loss the family has had to endure. Little Jonathan's dad, Jonathan King, Senior, was fatally shot by a Gladewater police officer back in 2005. "That's what he called me papa daddy ever since his dad died," said Michael Claton. "I've been there to fill his place he was a son to me."

From black eyes to broken and bruised arms, the other four children are recovering at home, meanwhile Caton bares the physical and emotional scars of that tragic day. "This is nothing compared to the pain in my heart from loosing my baby my grand baby," concluded Vickie Caton. 

A trust fund has been set up for Jonathan King, Junior at the Citizens Bank in Kilgore. It's under the grandfather's name Michael Caton.

The funeral for Johnathan King, Jr. is still pending at Community Funeral Home of Tyler.