A Phoenix toddler has been released from a hospital and is in the care of his great-aunt after losing his parents and sister in a head-on crash last week.

Two-year-old A’skari Lewis is “doing really well,” according to one family member.

“He’s adjusting to a lot of new things and he’s confused,” said cousin Amy Davis, whose mother is looking after the boy. “He is OK and he has a lot of people who love him, and he’ll pull through.”

The rest of the family is understandably “very devastated” by the loss, she said.

Police say Reshad Lewis, 34, was at the wheel of the family’s vehicle April 20 when he veered into a two-way turn lane near 32nd Street and Paradise Lane, crashing head on with a pickup truck. His fiancee, 25-year-old Nickole Lambert, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, died at the scene.

Lewis, his 8-year-old daughter, Shihada, and A’skari were rushed to hospitals. Lewis was pronounced dead within hours of the collision, and police announced Saturday that Shihada had also died.

A’skari was released from the hospital Sunday night, Davis said.

Authorities say Lewis may have had a “medical event” that preceded the crash. The driver of the pickup truck had minor injuries.

Davis said she and Lambert were more like sisters than cousins; Davis’ mom raised Lambert and the women remained close when she started her own family with Lewis. The couple had been together for about six years before getting engaged over Christmas.

“He was Nickole’s everything,” Davis said of Lewis.

Lambert, Davis said, was very feisty and sweet and “could not wait to be a mom.” As a family, Lewis and Lambert were “very close knit, loving.”

“Their kids were their world,” Davis said, adding that Lewis was a good dad who “cared about his kids a lot. He did whatever he needed to do to take care of them.”

The couple worked in sales and kept schedules that “allowed them to take care of their kids and be with them as often as possible,” Davis said, adding that Lewis’ daughter from a previous relationship, Shihada, lived with them full time.

Shihada was “just the sweetest 8-year-old, very playful and bubbly,” she said. “My daughters are very sad they lost their cousin and friend.”

GoFundMe account has been set up in the family’s name. Davis said a memorial service is being planned for sometime in May. Most of the family is in Phoenix, but there is a brother in Washington, she said.

As for what will happen with A’skari, Davis said family members have not made any concrete custody plans and are trying to take it a day at a time.

“They’re all going to be so missed, and we’re just trying to figure out how to raise A’skari in the best way.”

William Evans contributed to this report. 

Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/2pexZZP