Car Strikes 14-Year-Old Girl Near Bus Stop

Hero pushes kids out of path of out-of-control car

TEMPLE HILLS, Md. -- Several people were injured Tuesday morning when a car struck a teenager, then continued toward a group of students waiting for a bus.

The students were waiting at a stop in the 3100 block of Brinkley Road when a 14-year-old girl who attends Crossland High School began to cross the street to join them. About halfway across, a Lincoln Town Car slammed into her.

"She was walking across the street, and the car just hit her, and she flew," a witness said. "And our first instinct was to be like, 'Oh my goodness.' People started crying and everything."

The other students said the car was speeding and didn't stop. Authorities determined the woman driving the Town Car swerved to try to avoid the girl but couldn't.

The car then struck a minivan.

"The sedan struck the 14-year-old victim, veered off into the westbound lane striking an oncoming minivan and also struck a pedestrian that was on the sidewalk," said Prince George's County police Cpl. Erica Johnson.

That pedestrian may have saved two lives, according to witnesses.

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"There was two little kids over there, and he pushed them out of the way so they wouldn't get hit by the car, but he got hit trying to push them out of the way," a witness said.

He was among the seven people -- five students and two adults -- hospitalized after the incident. He is in stable condition. The 14-year-old girl is in critical but stable condition.

The rest of the injured -- the driver of the Town Car, the driver of the minivan and three passengers in the minivan -- suffered minor bruises.

Parents said they worry about the bus stop because cars travel too fast and there aren't any crosswalks.

"It's dangerous," said Mike Owens, a parent in the neighborhood. "People speeding around the corner. That's a blind corner coming around that corner. If you speed you can't see anything around it or you don't have time to react."

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