A teenage passenger injured when her grandmother accidentally accelerated, hit two kids and an adult and crashed into a school building remains in the hospital Friday night nursing facial fractures and other injuries.
Jazimin Tapia, 13, had just gotten into her grandmother's car in the parking lot of Hidden Valley Middle School Thursday when the driver became confused and sped through the parking lot.
The 75-year-old crashed through a fence and hit an 11-year-old student and her 42-year-old mother. They were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
A 13-year-old boy was also hit and suffered minor injuries.
Jazimin was airlifted to Rady Children's Hospital where she could spend the weekend healing from a nasal sinus fracture and lacerations to her face, Escondido Police Lt. Lick said.
Jazimin's sister Ana said it was just a normal day until she got a call from her sister.
"She says 'Ana, come! come!' and I said 'What's wrong?' and she said "Just come! Grandma just crashed, come! I was like OK."
Her grandmother's car ended up at the bottom of a small grass hill crashed into a school building.
Ana said her sister was unrecognizable after the crash. "She looked like a zombie, not my sister. She didn't look like she was in her own body," she said.
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Her grandmother complained of moderate physical pain, but Ana said the emotional pain of hurting her granddaughter will be tough for her to get over.
"She's not the same," Ana said. "She's traumatized and it's horrible because my grandma is such a strong lady and I know she didn't mean it."
Doctors are expecting to release Jazimin sometime Saturday. They're hoping the swelling goes down enough for her surgery next Friday.
Support counselors were at the school Friday morning to meet with students and staff, the Escondido Union School District said.
The Escondido Police Department is handling the investigation.
