14-year-old with ‘fiery spirit’ dies after ATV flips in Alabama, cops and family say

A 14-year-old from Georgia died after the ATV she was driving ran off the road and flipped, Alabama officials say.

Kyleigh Rampley was driving an ATV the afternoon of Friday, May 26, when the vehicle ran off the road, struck a telephone pole wire and overturned, Cherokee County Deputy Coroner Blake Madaris told McClatchy News. She was taken to the hospital where she died of blunt force trauma to her chest.

An 8-year-old passenger was also on the ATV at the time of the wreck, according to a news release from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. He was taken to the hospital for his injuries.

Madaris said the passenger was Kyleigh’s younger cousin.

Neither Kyleigh nor her cousin were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, state troopers said.

Kyleigh was a seventh-grade student at Pepperell Middle School, the Rome News-Tribune reported. She had just been baptized on Mother’s Day, her mom wrote on Facebook.

“As a parent there is no greater joy than watching your child trust in Jesus and it was such a gift to me that I will carry in my heart for the rest of my life, until I’m reunited with my baby again,” Mallory Rampley wrote. “I’m going to miss her contagious smile, fiery spirit, her desire to make everyone laugh but most of all I’m going to miss the encouragement she provided me daily to be the best person that I could be.

Other family members and loved ones shared tributes for Kyleigh on Facebook.

“My heart is hurting,” Kyleigh’s aunt, Morgan Rampley, wrote in a Facebook post. “I know you are the most beautiful and funniest angel. I will miss our laughs together the most.”

“She was so incredibly sweet and goofy,” one person commented. “My heart aches for you and your family”

“She was a spunky little girl when I had her at daycare,” another person wrote. “I know the pain [is] unreal and am so sad for your family.”

Cherokee County is about 90 miles northeast of Birmingham.

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