Diamond "Donna" Jonise (Credit: Diamond "Donna" Jonise) BATON ROUGE, La. - Diamond "Donna" Jonise still hopes to be a model one day even after a deadly car accident left the 23-year-old paralyzed from the waist down, according to relatives.
Jonise, who’s the granddaughter of Louisiana State Representative C. Denise Marcelle, and seven of her colleagues were traveling in a Winnebago RV when it collided with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 66 in Fauquier County, according to the Virginia State Police.
Marcelle said the truck blew a tire and either slowed or stopped in front of the RV, causing the crash. She said the group was heading to New York for New York Fashion Week.Diamond "Donna" Jonise (Diamond "Donna" Jonise)"The RV collided with the truck and went over an embankment falling approximately 40 feet, hitting trees," Marcelle told FOX Television Stations. RELATED: Teen pulled from burning barn after upstate NY car crashMarcelle said two ladies traveling with Jonise died while Jonise was ejected from the RV and landed on the interstate.
She was airlifted to a hospital with multiple fractures and bleeding from the brain, Marcelle said. "Diamond stands tall in the face of any adversity and will overcome this tragedy," her grandmother said.