Family wants to meet good Samaritans who saved mother and daughter in fiery crash

DANIA BEACH, Fla. – Onika Ramsay and Chanel Carty are thankful their younger sister and niece are alive after a deadly, fiery wreck in Dania Beach.

It was a week ago, Aug. 16, when Tenisha Sebastian, 29, and her 6-year-old daughter Hailey Ralph were being driven by a friend to a family member’s house when the awful accident happened.

“It’s still like a dream to all of us,” Ramsay told Local 10 News on Monday.

Surveillance video shows the driver of a blue Jaguar SUV, identified as Stanley Smith, slam into a concrete pole on Griffin Road near Anglers Avenue. Twenty seconds later, the car went up in flames, trapping Smith along with Sebastian and her daughter.

“She was able to strap her daughter out,” Carty said. “She said she was able to strap her out, but the problem was she couldn’t get the car unlocked, so she kept banging on the window.”

Tenisha would bang on those windows for nearly a minute and a half. A man arrived with a stepladder and tried to break open a window. He was unsuccessful, but another good Samaritan in a black shirt grabbed the ladder and bashed the window open, pulling out Sebastian and her daughter.

A nearby worker with a fire extinguisher tried to put out the flames.

Both mom and daughter sustained burns and broken bones in the accident and have had surgeries since they were brought to Broward Health Medical Center a week ago.

“My sister is still recovering. She has a long way to go, long way,” Ramsay said. “My niece, she’s recovering a little bit more faster.”

Smith did not survive the crash. He was trapped inside, and when crews got to him, it was too late. It is still unclear what caused the driver to lose control.

The sisters desperately want to thank the good Samaritans who are credited with saving their loved ones’ lives.

“We are really thankful for the good Samaritans and we [would] love to meet them,” Ramsay said.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office also wants to talk to those good Samaritans and possibly give them a life-saving award.

If you would like to help Tenisha Sebastian and her daughter Hailey, a GoFundMe page has been set up.


About the Author:

Sanela Sabovic joined Local 10 News in September 2012 as an assignment editor and associate producer. In August 2015, she became a full-time reporter and fill-in traffic reporter. Sanela holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications with a concentration in radio, television and film from DePaul University.