LAKE CITY, Fla. — A Lake City family is outraged after their 9-year-old daughter was hit by a car while walking to her school bus at her bus stop on Birley Avenue.
After nearly a week in the hospital, Aubrielle Jenkins's family is expecting her to be discharged Tuesday night.
“I can remember the whites of her shoes, the dark washed jeans, the backpack, then there was a flash of silver just as she was getting ready to step onto the white line, and she was just gone," said Tiara Thomas, Jenkins' mom.
Thomas says moments later, her daughter’s bus driver sprang into action to try to save the girl’s life.
“He got down on her and he was telling dispatch," said Thomas. "Dispatch said to start CPR. Everyone was just holding their breath and then when she came back, it was like time started to move again.”
That was the beginning of a long five days for Thomas and her daughter, as the 9-year-old underwent several surgeries for a deep cut on her head and broken bones in her leg.
“Luckily, our daughter was able to pull out of it and survive, but that was a very scary 24 hours," said Jenkins' Stepdad Dalton Fennell. "We didn’t know. From there, it’s been little thing, after little thing, after little thing.”
Thomas says the 19-year-old driver did stop after she hit her daughter, but she’s hoping the incident is a wake up call to drivers when they see a school bus.
“These are babies going to school," said Thomas. "Y’all have to stop, be better and pay attention to your surroundings.”
Fennell says Jenkins was excited about a field trip to the zoo the day she was hit, so that’s the first stop they’ll make once she feels well enough.
“She had been talking about it for weeks," said Fennell. "When she came to, she said ‘Hey, did we go to the zoo, did we make it? No, we didn’t make it, but I promise, we’re going.'"
Thomas says several of Jenkins' classmates were on the bus and saw the crash, so they’ve written her several cards to help her recover.
Her teacher even stopped by the hospital.
Thomas set up a GoFundMe to help cover the medical bills.