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Kind-hearted girl, 7, suffered every parent's worst nightmare while selling lemonade in front yard of her home

Kind-hearted girl, 7, suffered every parent's worst nightmare while selling lemonade in front yard of her home

Daily Mail​20 hours ago

A seven-year-old girl is fighting for her life after a car hit her lemonade stand, shattering both legs and causing possible brain injuries.
Annabelle Masten was airlifted to Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina on Tuesday, June 10, after a devastating crash in North Carolina that critically injured her and two other girls.
According to state troopers, a car accident sent a vehicle careening off Conley Road and into the front yard where the children were selling lemonade.
The car slammed into the stand with terrifying force, leaving all three girls seriously hurt.
Annabelle's family says her injuries are severe - one leg was completely shattered and the other has a crushed ankle.
Doctors rushed her into emergency surgery, where multiple pins and screws were inserted.
More operations are expected in the coming days.
She is also being closely monitored for a brain hematoma and possible spinal damage.
7-year-old Annabelle is fighting for her life after a car hit her lemonade stand, shattering both legs and causing possible brain injuries
Annabelle's family says her injuries are severe - one leg was completely shattered and the other has a crushed ankle
The car slammed into the stand with terrifying force, leaving all three girls seriously hurt
Her full prognosis remains uncertain.
'Please keep Annabelle, her family, and all the others involved in your prayers,' her uncle Michael Masten wrote on a GoFundMe page set up to help with mounting medical bills.
The GoFundMe has already raised more than $5,000 in two days.
The driver accused of causing the crash, 24-year-old Haley McCorkle of Hickory, has been charged with failure to yield the right of way resulting in serious bodily injury.
Annabelle is pictured with her family
Troopers say she pulled into traffic, causing another vehicle to swerve off the road and strike the children.
Despite the horror, the families are staying strong.
'I can't blame anyone for the accident. Accidents happen,' said the mother of one of the girls to Fox 8. 'I've just had to pray about it.'
The little girl's aunt Michelle Masten wrote online: 'Needing special prayers for my little niece. My brother, and his family. I have faith in the doctors in Asheville. May God guide them through this. I love you!'

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Alleged child sex abuse victim of Gateway Church founder Robert Morris sues him for defamation

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A grandmother was shot and killed in a gruesome carjacking. A family member says her murderer should not have been executed
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A relative of a grandmother who was viciously murdered during a carjacking more than two decades ago says they never wanted her killer to be put to death - and is now speaking out against President Donald Trump for green-lighting the execution. John Hanson, 61, received the lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on Thursday morning, becoming the 22nd death row inmate to be executed in the US this year. He was convicted of killing 77-year-old Mary Agnes Bowles after he and another man carjacked and kidnapped her from a Tulsa mall in August 1999. Bowles, a retired banker and community volunteer, was found dead a week later in a remote dirt pit on the outskirts of Owasso, having suffered multiple gunshot wounds in what authorities described as an execution-style killing. Hanson and his accomplice also killed a witness to the crime. After a quarter of a century behind bars, Hanson was declared dead at 10:11am on Thursday. 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His execution was once again thrown into doubt this week after his attorneys argued in a last-minute appeal that Hanson didn't receive a fair clemency hearing last month. They claimed one of the board members who denied the appeal was biased because he worked for the Tulsa County DA when Hanson was prosecuted. A district court judge this week issued a temporary stay halting the execution, but that was later vacated. Like Price, Hanson's attorney, Callie Heller, blasted Hanson's execution as 'an act of pointless cruelty.' Heller claimed that Hanson has autism, and that made him more susceptible to being manipulated by his 'dominating co-defendant,' Victor Miller. But not all of Bowles' relatives were against Hanson being put to death. Her niece, Sara Parker Mooney, called for reforms to death row practices in an interview with USA Today, insisting Hanson should've been executed years ago. 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Before being administered his lethal dose, he told those gathered to watch his final breath: 'Just forgive me and peace to everyone.' A spiritual adviser stood close by, reading from a Bible as the execution began. Hanson could be heard snoring when the Department of Corrections chief of operations announced he was unconscious, USA Today reported. During his clemency hearing last month, Hanson expressed remorse for his involvement in the crimes and apologized to Bowels and Thurman's families. 'I'm not an evil person,' Hanson said via a video link from the prison. 'I was caught in a situation I couldn't control. I can't change the past, but I would if I could.' Hanson's attorneys acknowledged he participated in the kidnapping and carjacking, but said there was no definitive evidence that he shot and killed Bowles. They painted Hanson as a troubled youth with autism who was controlled and manipulated by the domineering Miller. Mary Bowles was returning to her car at the Promenade Mall in Tulsa on August 31, 1999, when she was ambushed by Hanson and Miller at gunpoint. The two men forced the elderly woman into her own car and drove to an isolated dirt pit near Owasso. The owner of the pit, Jerald Thurman, saw the car pull in. Miller got out and shot Thurman four times, including once in the head, as Bowles watched on helplessly from the backseat, court records state. She asked the two men, 'Do you have kids or anyone who loves you?', prompting Hanson to punch her in the face. Moments later, Miller stopped the car. Hanson forced Bowles out and shot her at least six times, court records say. Thurman's nephew was on the phone with him just before the attack and found his wounded uncle still alive shortly after the shooting. Tragically, Thurman, 44, succumbed to his injuries two weeks later. Bowles' 'significantly decomposed' remains were found on September 7, 1999, more than a week after her abduction. Hanson and Miller, meanwhile, continued on a five-day crime spree, robbing a bank and a video store, before Miller's wife turned the two men into police, following an argument. They were eventually captured two days after Bowles' remains were found. Miller was sentenced to life in prison while Hanson was sentenced to the death penalty. Later, Miller bragged that he was the one who'd shot Bowles, not Hanson, court records say. Hundreds would turn out to mourn Bowles' death. She volunteered at numerous local organizations, including at a local hospital where she'd logged 11,000 hours in the neonatal unit caring for critically ill newborns.

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