Learning the hard way

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"I feel so lucky. I didn't get killed. I don't have a hundred broken bones," says Jessica Smith, 15, who was in a crash Monday in which five teenagers were thrown from a Jeep. (JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

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Jessica Smith and mom, Rhessa Schacter, look at scrapes Jessica got in the accident. (JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

A passenger injured in Monday's Jeep rollover says she's surprised to be alive.

The accident was preventable, 15-year-old Jessica Smith says.

Smith was one of four teenagers crammed into the back of the vehicle. None of the kids in the rear was wearing a seatbelt.

A boy sitting in the front passenger seat was buckled in. He walked away from the crash.

Smith says the group was heading from Shaftesbury High School to McDonald's when the accident happened.

"He (the driver) was swerving from left to right. He was doing it on purpose. I was scared."

Some passengers encouraged the driver to continue his erratic driving. The Jeep was travelling at high speeds down Grant Avenue when the driver lost control and hit the curb.

"I had that anxious feeling like in a movie and there's a car scene and you know something bad is going to happen. A second later, what I predicted came true," Smith says.

The Jeep flipped, tossing the passengers out.

There is no evidence alcohol or intoxicants were involved in the crash, police say. They are investigating whether the crash was linked to texting or chatting on a cellphone while driving.

Smith couldn't see a cellphone from her vantage point in the back seat. There's much she can't remember about Monday afternoon.

"They told me we flipped over four times," the teen says. "I blacked out so I only remember two times."

Sitting straight as a pole in her family's Linden Woods home, Smith is clearly in pain. The petite girl can't turn her neck. Her spine hurts. She's got abrasions on her wrist and back. There's a black eye. She's got what feels like road burn on her scalp.

"I didn't feel any pain at first because I was in shock."

Miraculously, her cellphone was still in her pocket.

She called her mother, who was across the street waiting in line for an H1N1 shot. Rhessa Schacter ran through the gridlocked traffic and saw her daughter being loaded into an ambulance.

Smith says five people ended up outside the Jeep. Only the front passenger remained in the vehicle.

"I was in shock when it happened. I remember what led up to the accident. I ended up on the grass and the car was far from me," Smith says.

She saw her friends scattered like rag dolls on the boulevard, sidewalk and lawn. One girl was bleeding from her ears.

"The music was on, really loud. After it happened, the music was still playing. It didn't stop. It was like a movie."

The five passengers were taken to Children's Hospital. Two of them were released immediately. They're all home now.

The driver is 18 and was taken to a different hospital. He was alert enough to apologize to his passengers after the accident. When the vice-principal of Shaftesbury arrived at Children's to check on the students, he also brought a contrite message from the driver.

Immediately after the accident, Smith says, the driver was lying on the ground and cursing.

"He was like, 'My life is ruined. What's going to happen to me?' "

It is a miracle none of the students was seriously injured.

"No one got anything broken," Smith says. "I feel so lucky. I didn't get killed. I don't have a hundred broken bones."

The girl's mother said it's unbelievable no one lost their life.

"Someone was really looking out for these kids," she says.

News of the accident spread quickly. Kids texted other kids, layering misinformation on top of speculation.

"I was upset there was a rumour that I was dead," Smith says. She may never understand the impact that falsehood had on her close friends.

Smith says she's learned a number of lessons from the accident.

"I feel like I don't want to get in a car with a teenager," she says sombrely. "Be careful who you trust."

Wearing a seatbelt has become a priority, she says.

"I sometimes don't bother but I will now."

Jessica Smith was supposed to get her learner's permit on Friday. She's not sure if she'll be able to go through with it. She's not even sure she can ever be comfortable in a car again.

The biggest lesson those six kids should learn: They're not immortal. Bad things do happen to nice kids. Sometimes it only takes one stupid decision to change or end a life.

The lessons we try to teach our children are often ignored or considered alarmist.

For six Winnipeg families, the worst almost happened on Monday.

They are lucky to live to tell the tale.

lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 18, 2009 A3