Insets, from top to bottom clockwise: Austin Harmon, Jada Marlowe, Bentley Marlowe and Michael Marlowe (Iredell County Sheriff's Office/GoFundMe). Background: The scene of the drunk driving golf cart crash in North Carolina that was caused by Austin Harmon and took the lives of Michael Marlowe and his two children, Bentley Marlowe and Jada Marlowe, in 2022 (WCNC/YouTube).
A North Carolina man was found guilty this week of causing a deadly car crash that took the life of a dad and his two children, along with injuring several others, after court testimony revealed how he slammed into a golf cart the victims were riding in while he was drunk.
"I seen a baby laying in the road," Todd Lendernan, chief of the Iredell County Rescue Squad, testified during Austin Harmon's trial earlier this month, according to local ABC affiliate WSOC. "I seen one face down that was deceased. I seen another with people working on it, and I seen the mother and they're yelling, 'Please get me more tourniquets!'"
Harmon, 26, was convicted of DWI and felony serious injury by a motor vehicle in connection with the June 2022 crash, which left Michael Marlowe and his two children, Bentley Marlowe and Jada Marlowe — ages 5 and 13, respectively — dead. Michael's fiancee Amy Mills and their 2-year-old daughter Bailey were severely injured but survived, along with a family friend identified by local media outlets as Teagan Murphy, 16.
"I knew we were going to get hit," Mills, who had part of one of her legs amputated, testified. "She was so little," Mills said about Bailey, who suffered a broken jaw and two broken legs. "So, I just threw her. I just threw her and hoped for the best."
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Harmon was allegedly driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.12 when he crossed a centerline on Fort Dobbs Road in Statesville and slammed into the golf cart carrying the victims. Jada Marlowe survived the initial crash but later died in the hospital.
"I kept saying, 'I have to find my kid. I needed my kid,'" Mills remembered saying about Bailey after attempting to throw her to safety, according to WSOC. "So, they went and got her, and they sat behind me."
Murphy, who was friends with Jada, said in court Monday before Harmon was sentenced that she carries "guilt from still being alive while she's not," according to Iredell Free News. Michael Marlowe's father, Ed Marlowe, blasted Harmon for what he did and urged him to find remorse while behind bars, the Free News reports.
"He's ruined all of our lives forever," Ed Marlowe said.
It took jurors just six hours to convict Harmon. He was sentenced to serve a minimum of 20 years and maximum of 30 in prison. Harmon declined to speak during the hearing, but his lawyer offered up a statement claiming he was "inconsolable" after what happened.
"He would do anything to go back and undo the events of that day," attorney Kaleigh Darty told the court, according to the Free News. "He understands the gravity of what was lost to the Marlowe family."
