PEARLAND, Texas — Five people were killed Saturday night when Pearland police said a driver suffered a medical emergency and crashed into them while they were on their way to dinner.
Now KHOU 11 News is learning more about the victims. Four members of the same family were killed in one car. A family friend said they were heading to Cracker Barrel for dinner when in a split-second, everything changed.
"The car propelled into them and threw them out of the car," Russell Hasker said.
One of the victims was Hasker's lifelong friend: Karen Felder.
"The sweetest woman you'll ever meet," Hasker said.
Hasker said he last saw Felder at a funeral for another Sterling High School classmate earlier that afternoon. Hours later, she was gone, too.
"This happened Saturday night. It's been rough for everybody," Hasker said. "Nobody was able to talk about it. Couldn't comprehend it. It happened so fast, so it's been tough on everybody."
The loss is even more monumental. Also killed inside the car was Felder's daughter Jessica, grandson Mason and older brother Harry. Friends called him "Bubba."
"They were always going off somewhere together ... that's how close they were," Hasker said.
Only Karen's sister Michelle survived the crash. She's still in the hospital recovering.
"One person -- that's tough enough, but walking into a church or chapel and there are three or four or five caskets of all the same family, and you wipe the whole family out, it's tough," Hasker said.
It's why Hasker and other former Sterling HS classmates are coming together to help raise funds for the family. For now, he's holding onto memories -- including the last Rockets game he went to with Karen just a few months ago -- hoping it helps him get through the grief.
"Everything she ever did, or with me, that's what I'm holding on to right now. It's the only thing getting me by," Hasker said.
The driver who suffered the medical emergency that led to the accident also died in the crash. Two others were in that vehicle as well, but both are expected to survive their injuries.