A 10-year-old girl from McCormick Elementary School died Friday from injuries she suffered when a car slammed into the West Side school, bringing the number of dead from Thursday`s accident to three.
Maria Moya, of 2820 S. Christiana Ave., underwent surgery Thursday and died Friday of complications from head and chest injuries, said a Cook County Hospital spokesman.
The little girl died the afternoon that about 150 distraught parents gathered to mourn and share their grief over the tragedy, which also left seven people injured.
Another child and a grandmother died Thursday after a car driven by Isabel Fuentes jumped a curb, plowed through a fence, careened across a playground and slammed into a set of doors just as students were being let out of the school at 2712 S. Sawyer Ave.
Despite speculation that failed brakes may have been to blame, a Police Department examination of the car Friday found no mechanical problems. ”There is nothing to indicate any malfunction of the car,” said Sgt. Thomas Reynolds, of the major accident division.
Meanwhile, Dolores Torres, 62, the grandmother who died, was hailed as a hero Friday for pushing an 8-year-old girl to safety just before the car struck.
Magdalena Coronado, of South Spaulding Avenue, said the car missed her daughter, Maria, by a few feet. ”My little girl was crying and she said the lady had pushed her out of the way,” she said.
”Mrs. Torres, our grandmother who died, she was a hero,” said McCormick principal James Crowe. ”She saved a little girl`s life.”
Reynolds said that no criminal charges will be pressed against Fuentes, 37, of 2846 S. Kolin Ave., though she is charged with traffic violations.
”We`re viewing this as driver error,” he said. ”We thought it was driver error last night, but we wanted to verify it (by checking the car).”
Reynolds said that Fuentes ”was not drunk, she was not reckless.” He theorized that her foot may have slipped from the brake to the gas pedal, causing her to ”totally panic.”
After the accident, Fuentes ”was normal in every way, except for being extremely nervous and shook up,” he said. Fuentes made no statement to police.
Fuentes` son, Ruben, 14, and his uncle said that an ”alley mechanic”
recently fixed a brake fluid leak on the car. They said the brakes may have gone out, but the police exam ruled that out, Reynolds said.
Fuentes is charged with negligent driving and leaving the scene of an accident, both traffic-not criminal-charges. Reynolds said another ticket for damaging school board property may be issued when she appears June 20 in Traffic Court.
By Friday, the car had been towed, plywood covered the building where the car struck and bloodstains had been cleaned off the sidewalk. Psychologists and social workers offered advice on how to deal with the children.
”The children are not going to forget this for a long time,” Vicky Lacocque, a social worker, told the parents. ”It`s important that you let them cry.”
”My daughter didn`t want to come to school today. She was terrified,”
said Adela Perez. ”She said, `What`s going to stop this car from coming and killing us again?` ”
Also killed was Veronica Marquez, 4, of 2828 S. Trumbull Ave., who was with her mother to pick up her sister and brothers.
”A whole mess of kids are still scared,” said Esteban de los Santos, 10, a 4th grader.
