PALMYRA, Maine — A 7-year-old girl with a fractured knee helped her little sister and a friend get out of a heavily damaged car and went to look for help after the crash that took her mother’s life Sunday afternoon, according to a woman who assisted the victims.
“They were so brave,” Jessica Robinson of Palmyra said Monday of the three little girls, ages 4, 5 and 7, as she stood in her yard just up the hill from the fatal crash. “The oldest one was very brave. She got the other ones out of the car. She got the other two girls out of their car seats, and they went for help.”
A local man drove right by Aimee Lasco’s 2002 Chrysler after it crashed through a cow pasture fence and into a large tree near the side of the recently paved and narrow roadway, but he turned around when he looked in his rearview mirror and saw the girls in the road.
“He called 911,” Robinson said. “I was sitting in my house when I heard the scanner for 305 Raymond Road. That’s my mother-in-law’s house next door.
“We went right down,” she said, referring to her husband, Randy.
Lasco, 29, of Hartland was not wearing a seat belt when she lost control of her car just before 2 p.m., and she died at the scene, according to Stephen McCausland, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman. Investigators are still trying to determine why she went off the side of Raymond Road, a local cutoff connecting Hartland with West Palmyra, he said Monday.
“I’m not 100 percent sure what happened,” said Robinson, who said she has known Lasco and her family for years. “We may never know.”
“If you saw the car …” she said, her words trailing off. “I do not understand how they got out. They were not bleeding or anything. Somebody was watching over them.”
Robinson described Lasco as full of life with “a huge smile” who had been through some tough times recently with the death of another family member, and her boyfriend two years ago. She also reminisced about Lasco’s love for her children and for hunting.
“Things were looking up for her,” Robinson said.
The sentiment was echoed by Lasco’s cousin Jessica Reed of Pittsfield.
“She was just putting her life together,” Reed said.
Lasco and the girls had just left a birthday party, Robinson said. After the crash, the Robinsons and another couple who came across the accident parked their vehicles to block the roadway, and Robinson stayed with the children while waiting for emergency responders. Her husband contacted Lasco’s family and the children’s family members.
The roadway was shut down to traffic while the Maine State Police reconstruction team investigated.
Robinson and her mother-in-law, Juanita Robinson, said after new pavement was put down in June, drivers seem to be speeding by their homes a lot more.
“Please slow down,” Jessica Robinson said. “Especially now that school is back in session.”
The two younger girls were taken to the hospital and released Sunday, and the oldest daughter remains at Eastern Maine Medical Center under observation, Reed said.
“She was having chest pains but didn’t want to tell anyone because she is afraid of surgery,” she said. “There is bleeding in the lungs.”
Reed said she believes the little girl will stay with her one of her siblings’ grandparents when she gets out of the hospital.
“We’re not sure what is going to happen with that little girl,” Reed said. “She’s really had it rough.”
Lasco is survived by her two daughters and a son. A GoFundMe account has been set up by her brother, Joseph Flood, for funeral costs.
“This is such a tragic thing,” Robinson said. “The family, they have dealt with a lot, a lot in the last year. My heart pours out for them, and especially the children.”
Interim RSU 19 Superintendent Janet Morse said all of Lasco’s children attend schools within the district and added that grief “counseling will be available to anyone as needed.”
Two sets of grandparents and other relatives stopped by the Robinson home Monday “just to talk” and say they appreciate their help. Jessica Robinson said in small communities such as Palmyra and Hartland, “we all know each other and we all take care of each other.” She added that she did what anyone else in town would do.
Lasco’s oldest daughter is the one who is truly courageous, she said.
“She held herself together and took care of the other two,” Robinson said. “She got the other two to safety, and then went for help. That is what bravery is all about.”