PEABODY, MASS. (WHDH) - Two young children are continuing to recover after being struck by a vehicle in Peabody last week, a healing process their parents gave updates on while the vehicle’s alleged driver appeared in court Monday.
Two sisters, ages 5 and 8, were hit by a car on Lynn Street Friday afternoon. The two had been walking with their mother when a silver SUV struck them, before crashing into a street sign and tree.
Laura Andree, the children’s mother, told 7NEWS they were crossing the street to get to a nearby cleaners when it happened. She said two lanes of traffic were stopped as they crossed, but a car in the third lane came flying down the road, hitting both girls.
“Then all of a sudden, I just saw this car zoom by us and my children, I could feel them leave my hands, and I watched them go down the street, ten feet,” Andree said “I screamed a little bit, and then I saw my 5-year-old was closest to me, and I saw her just balled up in a fetal position on the ground and I didn’t see her breathing, so I ran over to her and started, apparently, using my trauma certification and my pediatric life support certification.”
The two girls were taken to Mass General Hospital soon after, where they were both alert and talking, according to their grandmother.
Their father, Jason Andree, said their injuries were serious, but that both were persevering.
“They have some pretty serious injuries that they’re recovering from,” he explained. “Our oldest has a broken leg and will take some time to heal from that, and our youngest, it’s still a concussion, some headaches now and then, but (they’re) remarkable little kids.”
The driver, Ovidia Lopez-Esteban of Lynn, was taken into custody at the scene for allegedly driving with a suspended license.
She faced a judge in Lynn on Monday, who took away her passport and ordered her not to drive before releasing her on bail.
Lopez-Esteban is due back in court next month.
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