COLUMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — 9-year-old Aubrielle Jenkins is speaking out for the first time since she was critically injured last week when she was struck by a car while walking to her school bus in Lake City.
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After days in the ICU, Aubrielle was just released from the hospital Tuesday. She shared her memories of that morning with Action News Jax.
“I feel good to be back home,” 9-year-old Aubrielle Jenkins.
Jenkins finally reunited with her family after being hit by a car while walking to get on her school bus. She shared her memories of that life-changing morning.
“I remember when I got out of my mom’s car. I told my mom that I loved her, and she told me she loved me. I stepped into the road to get on the bus and there were lights flashing. When I was walking in the road, I was hit by a car and ended up in the ditch,” 9-year-old Aubrielle Jenkins.
Though she remembers the moments before the accident, she says she has no recollection of anything that happened afterward. That’s when Aubrielle’s mother Tiara Thomas said her daughter’s bus driver performed CPR on Aubrielle.
“She started breathing again,” Aubrielle’s Grandmother Elizabeth Hrapski said.
That’s Aubrielle’s grandmother Elizabeth Hrapski. She was one of the first family members to arrive at the scene. She shared with us the encounter she had with the 19-year-old woman who was driving the Silver Hyundai that hit Aubrielle.
I said did you see what happened. She said ‘I never seen the bus. I didn’t see the bus,’" Hrapski said.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the 19-year-old driver was issued a citation for, Failure to Use Due Care / Special Hazards.
“Why was no arrest been made? Nothing is being done. Nobody has reached out to us,” Aubrielle’s mother Tiara Thomas said.
“She has gone through traumatic injuries, and something needs to be done more than a citation.”
Despite the pain and the long road to recovery, Aubrielle has not lost her smile, or her infectious personality. Now in a wheelchair and with a leg cast, she remains surrounded by the love and support of her family.
Aubrielle’s mother said she is taking it one day at a time with her daughter’s recovery, but she says the lack of an arrest and the citation given to the 19-year-old driver is not enough.
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