Family of teen killed in crash: 'You have to go on'

Macie Tucker, 16, of Fuquay-Varina, was riding in a 2004 Pontiac that was northbound on Kennebec Road skidded off the road on a curve and slammed into a pine tree, according to the State Highway Patrol.

"I've been in accidents before. I know what an accident sounds like," Ari Gonzalez, who lives nearby, said Monday. "I called 911 before I even walked out of the door because I knew someone had to be hurt if they hit right there."

Tucker was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, Cami Kaye Cummings, 17, of Angier, and another passenger, 15-year-old Alexis Caitlyn Brock, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Cummings has been charged with reckless driving and misdemeanor death by vehicle.

"You really can't sleep. It just stays on your mind," said Tucker's great-grandfather, Mickey Edwards. "You have to go on. You can't stop. You have to do the best you can."

Edwards remembers his great-granddaughter as a little girl who loved horses and who was excited about passing her driving test.

Still, he said, the family doesn't blame Cummings for the crash.

"It could be Macie driving and her getting killed," he said.