Paige Hart survives crash that killed her parents on Alaska highway
The toddler sustained six broken bones in the Oct. 19 collision but is healing quickly, her family said.
By Yasmin Nasser ·
Six broken bones. That is the injury count for Paige Hart, a 2-year-old who survived a fatal head-on collision on the Parks Highway near Trapper Creek, Alaska, on Oct. 19.
Alaska State Troopers determined that Sasha Hart, 38, crossed the center line while driving south in a Subaru Forester. Her vehicle collided with a northbound Ford F-250. Both drivers died in the crash.
Sasha Hart, 38, and her husband, David Hart, 41, resided in Fairbanks. The couple had recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. Family members said the pair blended Sasha’s Jamaican heritage with David’s Alaskan background.
Shery Elterman-Hart, David’s sister, described the family dynamic as one of immediate inclusion. “She just became one of us. We were really close with David before they met, but then when she came, she just sort of lumped right in,” Elterman-Hart said.
The family noted that the couple enjoyed traveling, watching hockey, and sharing meals. Their daughter was their primary focus. “She was their entire world,” Katie Ragsdale, David’s sister, said. “I don’t know if it’s Paige’s house or their house.”
Elterman-Hart held Paige during an interview and told the child, “She’s a miracle. Aren’t you?” The family said Paige is recovering rapidly and already displays traits of both parents, including her mother’s facial expressions and her father’s love for sweets.
“You still have a piece of them, a living piece of them still on Earth,” Ragsdale said.
