CHCCS school board offers update on middle-school girls hit by car while in crosswalk
Chapel Hill-Carrboro school leaders recently shared an update with the public on two middle-school students who were hit by a car on New Year’s Eve.
The seventh- and eighth-grade girls have made “miraculous progress” since being hit in the midblock crosswalk in front of Philips Middle School on Estes Drive, school board Vice Chair Rani Dasi said last week.
“On behalf of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education and leadership, as well as so many students staff and families throughout the district, we celebrate the miraculous progress Lila and Emmie have made, and we hope Emmie continues to strengthen until the day we see her smiling face in person again soon,” Dasi said.
She and other school board members wore “Emmie Strong” bracelets on behalf of the 13-year-old girl, who suffered life-threatening injuries, including to her brain. They also presented a proclamation at Thursday’s school board meeting recognizing March as Brain Injury Awareness Month.
Traumatic brain injury is caused most often by falls, assaults and car accidents, the proclamation noted, and can lead to lifelong physical, emotional, cognitive and behavioral challenges.
Emmie’s 14-year-old friend Lila was treated for serious injuries at UNC Hospitals and has since returned home. The News & Observer is not releasing Lila’s last name at her parent’s request.
“Emmie spent weeks in a UNC pediatric intensive care unit on a ventilator, underwent multiple surgeries and has received extraordinary care from a team of doctors, nurses and multiple therapists,” Dasi said, reading from a journal entry that Lynn Zwack, Emmie’s mother, posted to the Caringbridge site.
“A teacher from the Hospital School has started coming and reading to Emmie. Today, she squeezed the teacher’s hand twice in response to questions,” Dasi read.
Emmie has since been moved to a pediatric rehabilitation center in Charlotte.
“Emmie and Lila have an amazing bond and were always together in person or virtually. I know that they will heal together,” Dasi said, quoting Zwack, a teacher at Estes Hills Elementary School.
Chapel Hill pedestrian, bike safety
Phillips Middle School Principal Tiffany Cheshire thanked the board for Thursday’s proclamation and asked the community to keep the girls and their families “in your thoughts and prayers.”
“Every accident that involves children is tragic, but it’s unthinkable that something so terrible could happen just steps away from our own school,” Cheshire said. “The way our school and community have come together during this time has been a reminder of the power of kindness and caring that can knit us together even when we are physically apart.”
A 69-year-old Durham woman was charged with failing to yield to pedestrians in a clearly marked crosswalk in the Dec. 31 accident, which galvanized Chapel Hill’s residents concerns around bike and pedestrian safety.
Several crashes have already been reported this year involving pedestrians and cyclists. Sixteen of 24 pedestrians hit by cars were in marked crosswalks last year.
In February, the town installed pedestrian signs with flashing lights at the Estes Drive crosswalk and made other changes to improve bike and pedestrian safety. A long-delayed construction project that will add raised bike lanes, sidewalks and a multiuse path to Estes Drive started last week.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 6:13 PM.
