Two 12-year-old girls from a local school district are in their ongoing recovery from a terrifying collision that left them seriously injured on their walk to their school bus stop in the early morning hours.
This happened around 7:40 a.m. on December 12 on Horizon North Parkway. The girls were walking with each other during the dark early morning hours while heading to wait for their school bus when they tried to get across the street. This is when a truck hit them. Emergency services were promptly called, and both girls were taken to a children’s hospital in Dallas.
According to authorities, the driver involved is on the scene and is cooperating with authorities. At this point, it has not been determined what happened prior to the accident, although no charges have been made.
One of the girls, Ziyah Sawyer, was severely hurt. According to Ziyah’s mother, “She broke bones in both her arm and leg, has a concussion, and severely damaged her spleen. She needed emergency surgery, a blood transfusion, and constant surveillance in ICU. Unfortunately, Ziyah has no memory of going to school this morning, nor of the accident, which, of course, is very disturbing for us,”
The second girl who was walking with Ziyah was Elizah, who was severely injured too. She needed surgery because of the fractures in her hip, shoulder, and spleen injury. These two girls could be seen to be flung away from the point of impact, which indicates the severity of the impact.
“The mother of Ziyah has stated that:
“They were just doing what they were supposed to do. They had their hands joined looking for traffic and being careful before crossing the road. The hardest thing in all of this,” continues the mother of Ziyah, “Is knowing exactly what occurred minutes before impact.”
Adding to the trauma that the family has just experienced, Ziyah’s 16-year-old brother witnessed the occurrence and saw his sister lying hurt in the road. It seems that this experience has been very painful for all of these children, who are trying to cope with this crisis with all of their siblings.
As both of these families heal, they are also struggling to come to terms with the reality of long-term hospitalizations, medical expenses, lost wages, and having to spend Christmas days in a hospital rather than home. Family members have rallied round to help by raising funds to help ease the hardship and to bring some Christmas spirit to these girls.
Moving from California, the Sawyer family has been welcomed into the Texas community, and now loved ones of their own have come to Texas to be there for them. With their families’ support, Ziyah’s mom says that she’s choosing to hold on to gratitude and be thankful that both girls are alive. The case continues to unravel, with the hope of answers, healings, and full recoveries for two young girls being answered by the support of the entire community.
