It was a beautiful day on April 4, 2021, when Veronica Ford saw the police officer approaching her house. She thought it was another person wishing her condolences after her father’s funeral, which was held the day before. 

Then the officer asked her if Dalton Lee Ford was her son.

“He said I need you to hold my hands,” Veronica remembered. “So, I held his hands, and he told me.” 

He told Veronica that her son, Dalton, and his girlfriend, Tayler Garza, were killed in a car crash that morning. When their vehicle was making a left turn on County Road 42 near Burnsville, they were struck by a white Chrysler.

Police later learned that the driver of that Chrysler, Leon Bond, was drag-racing with his sister, Camille Dennis-Bond. Police used a nearby surveillance video to learn the Bonds’ cars were going somewhere between 91 and 112 mph. The speed limit of the road they were on was just 50 mph.

“The more we found out about what had happened and how it happened, then I got angry,” Veronica said. “It could have been completely prevented.”

Dalton had just finished his associate’s degree in automobile technology from Dunwoody College. Tayler was working as a certified nursing assistant and was taking classes to get a nursing degree. Both of them had their lives together.

“She was growing into a young woman,” recalled Brandon Garza, Tayler’s father. “She had just signed a lease on her first apartment just 12 days before this happened.” 

Brandon wants other drivers to know reckless driving has a terrible cost. 

“There was no reason to do that. Do it right — go to a track if you need to race your stupid cars. Don’t do it in public on Easter morning where you could hurt people,” he said.

According to preliminary data from the Department of Public Safety’s Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), more than a hundred people died in 2025 from speed-related crashes, and more than 160,000 speed citations were issued.

“We know every crash impacts a family, and every traffic death leaves someone grieving,” said Mike Hanson, OTS director. “Too many drivers seem to miss that message. Drag racing and reckless driving have no place on our roads. Driving is a privilege, and every driver has a responsibility to help keep our roads safe.” 

When drivers are going fast, every other bad decision becomes worse. Exceeding the speed limit by even a small amount increases the likelihood of a crash and the likelihood that it will be deadly. It’s why law enforcement works to stop reckless drivers before they hurt someone.

For the families left behind after a deadly crash, everything changes. The Fords and Garzas spent months following the trial of the Bonds, wanting justice but also closure.

“It did take months of investigating, probably around four or five months before some activity started happening in the courts,” Garza said.

Now when they’re on the road themselves, everyone affected by Tayler and Dalton’s deadly crash sees everything differently — especially distracted and dangerous drivers. 

“It’s frustrating,” said Dalton’s brother, Dayne Ford. “You just wanna grab those people by the shoulders and say, ‘What are you doing!’” 

Dalton’s father, James Ford, hopes the story of Dalton and Tayler’s terrible crash will make other drivers take notice and drive safely. He said nothing will be the same for his family, and he does not want anyone else to live with what happened to Dalton and Tayler.

“To this day, it is like we have a hole in our home,” James said. “It will never be repaired, and you don’t want to be responsible for doing that to another family as a driver.”