HALL COUNTY, Ga. — The Georgia law enforcement community is working to rally around a Hall County deputy going through the devastating loss over the weekend of his wife and two children in a car crash that killed five people in all.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, Deputy Patrick Neil Holtzclaw's wife Avonlea Holtzclaw was trying to cross U.S. Hwy. 23 on Sunday in Habersham County when her car was hit by a southbound driver.
The impact of both vehicles sparked a fire, and Holtzclaw's wife and two children, ages six and three, died along with driver of the other car, 59-year-old Mitchell Boggs of Marietta, and an unidentified passenger in that car.
“What can you say when someone loses his entire family? There are no words that can adequately express the heartbreak the Holtzclaw family is experiencing right now, but clearly, our entire agency is devastated for them,” Hall Sheriff Gerald Couch said.
In a release issued Wednesday, the sheriff's office said the Georgia Law Enforcement Organization nonprofit is taking donations for the deputy.
"We appreciate the many law enforcement agencies that have reached out asking how they can help," Sheriff Couch said in an earlier statement, before the announcement of the fundraising effort.
He said at that time that, "If I know our community, they will want to offer support, too."
"We thank you for your interest in this story and ask that you continue to give Deputy Holtzclaw and his family time and space to grieve and make further arrangements," the sheriff's office said.
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