Update: 1:38pm 02/17/2015: The other two people hurt in this deadly, tragic crash have been upgraded to stable condition.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

It is with heavy hearts that we share the names of the 34-year-old mother and her 10-year-old son killed in last night’s tragic I-65 crash in Franklin.

At 9:17 Monday night, Kristi Clark and her son, Carter Oakley, were struck by a semi after they got out of their vehicle to help five people in an overturned SUV that had hit a patch of ice on I-65S at mile marker 64.4. Carter died at the scene; his mom, Kristi, was pronounced dead a short time later at the Williamson Medical Center.

Two of the five people in that SUV were injured. They were transported to the hospital with critical injuries. They remain in serious condition.

“Kristi and her son, Carter, are heroes,” said Franklin Police Chief Deborah Faulkner. “These Good Samaritans put themselves in harm’s way to help a stranger. The goodness in their hearts that prompted them to do that will never be forgotten.”

Right now, the family deserves time, their privacy, and our prayers – and we sincerely hope that members of the community and the press will give them those three things.

# # #