Makaylin Angel had the kind of dreams that many other 6-year-old girls could appreciate.
She wanted to be a princess and marry teen pop idol Nick Jonas.
“She loved the Jonas Brothers,” Sheryl Edwards, her grandmother, said Tuesday, the day after the little girl died after she was struck by a suspected drunken driver.
The northwest Harris County woman and her granddaughters, sisters Makaylin and Kaylee Angel, were walking on Cossey Road at about 5:45 p.m. Monday, bringing a soda to an older family member, when a sport utility vehicle barreled toward them.
Edwards pushed 4-year-old Kaylee out of the path of the speeding vehicle, which then struck the grandmother. Makaylin tried to run, Edwards said, but was hit almost immediately.
The driver of the SUV, Larry Womack, 62, has been charged with intoxication manslaughter.
Edwards said she could see the driver as he struggled to gain control of the speeding vehicle on the narrow, winding road.
“When he started fighting with the wheel, the car just started flipping,“ she said.
Womack’s vehicle flipped over, sliding about 100 yards down the road.
“It didn’t stop until it hit a tree,” Edwards said.
Makaylin was pronounced dead at Methodist Willowbrook Hospital. Edwards was treated at the scene. Kaylee was not injured.
Womack was taken by Life Flight helicopter to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he remained Tuesday.
Edwards said her granddaughter was excited about the holiday season — from dressing up as a fairy on Halloween to getting her Christmas wish list ready for Santa.
“My granddaughter just had a special spot in everybody’s heart,” Edwards said. “She was just a sweetheart.”
The bubbly, outgoing girl — who attended first grade at Krahn Elementary School — helped care for her neighbors living along the 10300 block of Cossey in northwest Harris County.
“If I cooked dinner, she would take the food to them,” Edwards said. “She just loved doing that.
Several of her teachers and even complete strangers have stopped by to offer condolences to the family and add to a growing memorial across the street from Edwards’ home where Makaylin was killed.
“I just think it’s so sad that people drink and drive,” said Linda Smith, who didn’t know Makaylin. “He (Womack) took away something very precious. He took it away from the family.”
Witnesses told Harris County sheriff’s deputies that Womack had left a neighborhood bar shortly before the fatal incident.
According to Harris County court records, Womack has completed half of a two-year probation period for a 2007 drunken driving charge – his third in Harris County.
Edwards was shocked that even the most recent DWI charge resulted only in a one-year jail term for Womack, in addition to the probation.
“He can go on with his life but my baby can’t,” she said.
In March 1997, Womack also pleaded guilty to unlawfully carrying a weapon and marijuana possession. He spent six days in jail and received a one-year probation, according to court records.
Edwards is determined to pursue Womack through the justice system – no matter what the cost.
“I will see him be put away,” she said. “I will stop him.“
THIS WAS SO SAD TO ME!!!!!!EVERYONE HAS A DREAM AND WISHES TO FOLLOW IT THE BEST THEY CAN!!!!!!!! I HAVE DREAMS TOO WHICH IS HARD FOR ME TO GET TO SOMETIMES.BUT I KNOW I CAN REACH IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE YA!!!
I really hope the Jonas Brothers see this because it is sooo sad and moving. It amazes me that someone can be so irresponisble as to get behind the wheel after drinking. That stupidity resulted in the lose of what seemed like an AMAZING little girl….plus many more lives elsewhere from different senerios. That little girl was a saint through and through and it is very tragic how she was taken from her family.
I HOPE THEY SEE THIS TOO!!!!!! IT IS VERY HARD TO LOSE SOMEONE YOU LOVE!!!!!!!!!
LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!
That is so sad.
I will most definetly pray for the this family.
It is very hard to lose someone that you love so very much.
Oh my gosh.
That’s so unbelievably terrible. I know it’s upsetting, but we have to just know that she’s alright now. So many people take their life for granted, never looking at people who have it so much worse- much like this family.
They’re in my prayers, most definitely.
hi may i know the code for the “Continue to read the article. ?” ? thank u
:-( my cousin was killed by a drunk driver, god bless this little girl, my thoughts and prayers are with her family. may she rest in heaven
I hope Nick Jonas sees this cuz that little sure loved him
I hope Nick Jonas sees this cuz that little girl sure loved him