A 13-year-old Juneau girl is at a Seattle hospital after she was hit by a driver and severely injured while riding her bike.
It happened on Saturday on Egan Drive, where it crosses Gold Creek near the entrance to the Seawalk. According to police, the girl was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital and then transported to Seattle “due to the severity of her injuries.”
“She sustained extensive trauma to her legs, pelvis and her head,” said Erann Kalwara from the Juneau Police Department.
According to police, emergency dispatchers received several calls when the collision happened. There were many people at the scene.
“They provided aid to the 13-year-old and directed traffic until responders got on scene to make sure there were no additional injuries,” Kalwara said. “So that was really awesome that those folks stopped and helped out.”
The incident happened on Egan Drive, a busy road on the waterfront through downtown Juneau. The road was closed for about four hours after the incident, and the girl’s bike and helmet lay in the road after she was taken to the hospital.
Exactly how the collision happened is still being investigated.
“It appears that the Jeep was driving inbound on Egan in the right lane, and it looks like the collision occurred in or near the crosswalk right there near Gold Creek,” Kalwara said. “So we’re still working on the details of that.”
The two people in the Jeep were uninjured.
The girl’s family asked that her name be kept private.
From the hospital in Seattle, a family member said that the girl is improving, and there’s hope for a full recovery.
“She said her name last night. She answered a question yesterday,” she said. “So those are all really good signs.”
The family member says that she’s a social and athletic girl.
“She has lots of friends,” she said. “She hit 1,200 messages yesterday on her phone. She’s got an amazing support group.”
This post has been updated with the family’s request to keep the girl’s name and her relatives’ identities private.
