Priest offers to cover funeral costs for 6 people killed in I-75 crash

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WXIX) - A priest who witnessed the aftermath of Saturday’s crash that killed six people on I-75 is offering to pay the funeral expenses for all the victims.

Father Jim Sichko pulled up to the wrong-way crash not long after it happened at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Once he saw the crash, Father Jim says the only thing he knew to do was to pray.

“I was leaning out of my car window praying,” recalled Father Jim. “My rosary, that I carry in my pockets with me all the time, and here they are, and I just was praying.”

Father Jim says he could tell by the facial expression of the first responders that no one would make it out of this crash alive.

“I was there watching a firefighter as he extracted the last person out of the vehicle and it was, the look on his face and on his eyes, I will remember for quite some time as he just shook his head, ‘no,’” said Father Jim.

Jamaica Caudill, 38, was driving the wrong way on I-75 when her vehicle collided head-on with another vehicle carrying a family of five, according to the Fayette County Coroner.

The family in the vehicle have been identified as two-year-old Jack Greene, five-year-old Brayden Greene, nine-year-old Karmen Greene, 11-year-old Santanna Greene, and 30-year-old Catherine Greene.

Caudill and Karmen died at the crash scene.

The other members of the Green family all died at the hospital.

First Report | Six killed in I-75 crash identified

The money Father Jim will use to cover the funeral costs will come from the earnings he has made from speaking engagements.

“This is not the first time I’ve done this,” Father Jim said. “I’ve done this all across the world. It’s part of the ministry that Pope Francis has called us to be as missionaries of mercy. To lessen the burdens, the cross of those who have to go through various tragedies.”

Father Jim says he talked with the funeral director in Lexington Monday, but nothing is finalized as far as memorial services are concerned.

He did say that the Greene family will have a collective service and not eulogized individually.

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