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A 33-year-old mother of four and former Easthampton resident was killed last week in Maryland after speeding cars caused a “chain reaction” of crashes, officials said.
A Florida native, Jaleisa Wilcox moved to Western Massachusetts after graduating high school to reconnect with family, according to her obituary. She owned and operated Quality Cleaners LLC, a cleaning service.
Wilcox was pronounced dead at the scene of a May 31 collision on Three Notch Road in Mechanicsville, Maryland, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies responded to the crash around 1:44 p.m. and found Wilcox’s car and another vehicle overturned.
Witnesses reported that speeding cars caused a “chain reaction of collisions,” the sheriff’s office said. Wilcox was not in one of the speeding cars.
Officials said a 2020 Corvette hit the rear driver side of a 2000 Toyota 4Runner, then Wilcox’s 2008 Toyota Camry. The Corvette and Camry rolled over, while the 4Runner crossed into northbound lanes. The Corvette driver was taken to a hospital due to his injuries.
“The privilege to drive doesn’t supersede another’s right to drive on our roadways without fear of being seriously injured or worse,” St. Mary’s County Sheriff Steve Hall said in a statement following the crash. “These are roadways; they are not raceways.”
He added: “This selfishness has got to stop. Our actions, especially as drivers on our roadways, impacts others. This flagrant disregard for the safety of fellow travelers is disgusting.”
The sheriff’s office is seeking information on a dark gray or black striped Ford Mustang that may have been nearby before the crash. Hall also announced that his office will intensify traffic enforcement efforts targeting reckless, aggressive, distracted, and impaired drivers.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Jaleisa Wilcox and to all affected by the tragic crash,” he said. “We ask that you remember the victim and those impacted every time you start your car.”
Meanwhile, Wilcox’s family and friends are remembering her as a “source of positivity” who spent her time helping others and visiting the beach or going camping with her family, per her obituary.
“Jaleisa’s family and friends will miss her more than words can ever describe,” the obituary reads.
Wilcox leaves behind her fiancé, Edward Gardner, and their four children, according to a GoFundMe page raising money for her family and end of life services.
“We were suppose[d] to have our rocking chairs on the front porch and grow old,” Gardner wrote in a public Facebook post mourning Wilcox.
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Michigan State has an excellent chance to make a strong statement this weekend that the rebuilding job under new head coach Jonathan Smith is ahead of schedule, if the Spartans can take down 8-point favorite Maryland on Saturday.
A Michigan State victory would be a strong statement within the football industry, but maybe not as strong from a fan perspective. I’m not sure Maryland’s football brand is as respected in the state of Michigan and regionally as it should be, for a program that has gone 8-5 in the past two seasons and defeated Auburn and North Carolina State in bowl games the past two years.
Maryland is good. The Terrapins are coming off a 50-7 victory over a weak UConn team last week. Maryland’s offense looked very good against a weak, soft, conservative UConn defense.
Michigan State’s defense was ahead of schedule last week against a mediocre Florida Atlantic offense. Michigan State’s offense was behind schedule, experiencing inconsistent accuracy and decision-making at the quarterback position, which was somewhat understandable considering it was sophomore Aidan Chiles’ first start as a college player. MSU’s running game also lacked consistency, especially in short yardage and in the red zone.
The big news from Maryland last week in my opinion was the excellent play of new starting quarterback Billy Edwards. The 6-foot-3, 222-pound redshirt-junior had waited behind the outgoing, record-breaking Taulia Tagovailoa for three years. Tagovailoa left Maryland as the Big Ten’s all-time passing leader. He went undrafted and is now playing in the CFL.
Edwards looked good last week. He’s strong in the pocket, is a physical ball carrier on designed runs or scrambles. He was accurate over the middle on intermediate routes, and seemed to do a good job processing coverages, although UConn’s coverages were simple, slow and soft.
I saw this Michigan State vs Maryland game as a swing game on the schedule prior to the season. But considering how well Edwards and his receivers looked last week, and Michigan State’s sputtering start on offense, this game goes from being a swing game to uphill slog for the Spartans.
One teen shot another during a dispute in a Maryland high school bathroom Friday in what authorities called an isolated incident.
The victim, a 15-year-old student at Joppatowne High School, was in serious condition after being airlifted to a hospital, the Harford County Public Schools said in a news release, citing information it received from the county sheriff’s department.
A 16-year-old student whom police identified as the shooter fled shortly afterward but was caught minutes later nearby, according to the news release. Officials said no information would be released immediately about the weapon, which had not been recovered.
The state’s attorney has said the suspect will be charged, the release said, citing Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler.
Shortly after the shooting, the sheriff’s office asked people to avoid the area, but emphasized that the confrontation was an “isolated incident, not an active shooter.” A parent-student reunification center was established at a nearby church. More than 100 personnel responded to the high school about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Baltimore, Gahler said.
The fight happened two days after a shooter whom authorities identified as a 14-year-old student killed four people at a high school outside Atlanta. Wednesday’s attack renewed debate about safe storage laws for guns and had parents wondering how to talk to their children about school shootings and trauma.
Michigan State football heads out east looking to open Big Ten play with a big-time victory.
The Spartans will play at Maryland on Saturday afternoon in their first conference game of the year. Michigan State enters this matchup with a 1-0 record on the year following last week’s win over Florida Atlantic. Maryland is also 1-0 thus far on the season, picking up a blowout non-conference win over UConn last week.
Maryland enters this game as a more than touchdown favorite depending on the sports book. The Terps have won the last two meetings between these two schools.
Below are the details for Saturday’s matchup between the Spartans and Terps:
Game time: 3:30 p.m. ET on September 7
Location: SECU Stadium (College Park, Md.)
TV: Big Ten Network
Live Stream: fuboTV (try it free)
Listen: Spartan Media Network or MSUSpartans.com
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on Twitter @RobertBondy5.
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