LEWISTON — A city woman who hit a student with her SUV Thursday was an out-of-control, inexperienced, unlicensed driver, and the crash had nothing to do with a new traffic pattern at Lewiston High School, Superintendent Leon Levesque said Friday.
The student, Kelsey Cope-Norris, 16, suffered broken bones and other injuries. She was listed in good condition Thursday at Central Maine Medical Center. The hospital declined to list her condition Friday, at the family's request.
The Sun Journal reported Friday that witnesses said SUV driver Bilow Farah, 33, may have become impatient with a long line of vehicles as people waited to drop off students. The school created the new traffic pattern on Jan. 4 to provide a safe space for vehicles to pull over and drop off students.
"The whole idea is we want to slow traffic down," Levesque said. "They're going too fast, doing U-turns, doing things that are endangering students." So far, it has improved safety, Principal ceeb LeBlanc said.
At 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Farah was parked in front of the school dropping off students. She sat in her vehicle for about a minute, holding up vehicles behind her, LeBlanc said. As she started to leave she drove her vehicle off the road and down a paved walking path.
"How do you confuse this with a road?" Levesque asked, pointing to the sidewalk. "This is where the kid was hit, on the sidewalk. See the tire tracks?"
Cope-Norris was knocked to the ground.
"Witnesses said the car actually picked up speed," Levesque said. "It goes flying into the snow and the car rams into five other cars." Police said seven parked cars sustained damage. "It has nothing to do with the traffic pattern. It's more about (driver) inexperience than anything else," Levesque said.
LeBlanc praised the reaction of students and faculty who dropped what they were doing to help the student and the driver.
"People were taking their coats off and covering the girl on the ground," he said. "I was proud of the way people demonstrated their compassion."
The crash was under investigation Friday, Lewiston police Lt. Mark Cornelio said. Farah's vehicle, a 2000 Mercedes Benz, is registered to her. According to police, she provided proof of insurance.
Farah, who has an expired learner's permit, was featured in a 2008 series by Colby College about Somali Bantus who immigrated to Maine from Africa.
On Thursday, she was charged with driving without a license and driving to endanger. She was arrested and released on $1,000 bail, according to Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.
At the high school Friday morning, vehicle traffic was heavy from 7:30 to 7:45, with cars lined up to East Avenue.
http://www8.sunjournal.com/content/citt ... ernp011610
Shes got to be one of the worst drivers to be on the road.
