Father and son who were very close die in head-on collision

Jeffrey Morris Brasher and his son Austin Blaine Brasher of Bankston, Alabama, died early Saturday morning in the most devastating way.

Jeffrey Morris Brasher, a 50-year-old independent bread distributor was heading in to work at 4:10 a.m. on Saturday morning. While his son, 22 year old Austin, was headed home after a night of partying with friends.
Jeffrey Brasher was driving a 2006 Ford pickup and his son was driving a 2004 Chevrolet truck when they collided on a highway head-on, Alabama State Trooper Jonathon Appling. Jeffrey, was killed instantly while his son, Austin, was rushed to the nearest hospital, where he fought for his life for nearly five hours before succumbing to his injuries, Police said.

According to relatives and friends of the Brashers, Saturday’s accident has left the tight-knit communities of Fayette and Bankston, Alabama, devastated.

“You really just cannot imagine it,” Pamela Brasher Dennis, Jeff’s sister and Austin’s aunt, tells PEOPLE. “There are no words that can be said. Everybody’s life changed on Saturday morning. No one’s life will be the same after this.”

Investigators in Alabama say alcohol played a considerable role in Saturday’s horrific head-on crash. But relatives say Jeff was not a drinker.

“Austin did drink and was coming home from partying when they crashed,” says Monica Marie Aker, one of Austin’s cousins. “To know that they collided head-on is one of the hardest things to comprehend. Our whole community is just devastated by this.”

Dennis says her brother Jeffrey and her nephew, Austin were very close. The two could often be seen together on the local golf course, trying to improve their handicaps. Jeff, she says, was known throughout the community for his volunteerism, serving as the public address announcer for the local middle school’s football games.

Aker described Jeff as “the kind of guy who, if you needed something, you’d go to him because he would help. He wanted to make you smile and his kids were his number one priority.”

Austin, according to Aker, was known as “the life of the party.”

“In high school, he was quiet, but everyone knew who he was,” Aker says. “He was the little guy driving the big truck. He was very well-liked and could really get along with anybody.”

Aker says that part of her is relieved her cousin didn’t survive Saturday’s accident.

“My worst fear was that Austin would make it through and then kill himself because he wouldn’t have been able to deal with killing his father,” she explains. “It would have destroyed him.”

Dennis says that a joint funeral is planned for this Wednesday afternoon. Wakes for the father and son will be held Tuesday evening, with large crowds expected for both. “We are just so blessed”.

“Yes, we are struggling but we have been covered in prayer. People from all over the country have been reaching out to express their support. It has really helped us as we try to make sense out of the senseless."