A 72-year-old Cottonwood man died at a Phoenix hospital around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 9, after a head-on crash on Cornville Road just west of Recycler Road at 7:50 a.m. that injured another adult and two 9-year-old children.
Hakim Amin was airlifted to Flagstaff Medical Center immediately after the accident. He was then flown to Barrow Institute in Phoenix, where he died. The collision lead to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office closing Cornville Road as first responders treated the injured and investigated the accident.
A fund has been set up at the cottonwood Wells Fargo Bank as the Hakim and Heather FUnd to assist in medical expenses for Hakim Amin’s 9 year old twins who were severely injured. At home now, the children are recovering at home in the care of their mother, Heather Hakola. All donations will be greatly appreciated.
For the full story, see the Wednesday, May 1, edition of The Camp Verde Journal or the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
Christopher Fox Graham is the managing editor of the Sedona Rock Rocks News, The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra. Hired by Larson Newspapers as a copy editor in 2004, he became assistant manager editor in October 2009 and managing editor in August 2013. Graham has won awards for editorials, investigative news reporting, headline writing, page design and community service from the Arizona Newspapers Association. Graham has also been featured in Editor & Publisher magazine. He lectures on journalism and First Amendment law and is a nationally recognized performance aka slam poet. Retired U.S. Army Col. John Mills, former director of Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs referred to him as "Mr. Slam Poet." In January 2025, the International Astronomical Union formally named asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) in his honor at the behest of Lowell Observatory, citing him as "an American journalist and longtime managing editor of Sedona Red Rock News. He is a nationally-recognized slam poet who has written and performed multiple poems about Pluto and other space themes."
