Moms Push for Safer Trail After Teens Hit By Car

The mothers of two 14-year-old-girls who were critically injured when they were hit by a car are working to make an east Dallas walking path safer.

Briana Ramos and Gelika Gonzalez, eighth-graders at J.L. Long Middle School were struck on the Santa Fe Trail near the intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and Glasgow Drive while they were walking home from school Nov. 4.

The mothers of both girls are working to add new safety posts added to the walking path. A Dallas transportation committee recently approved funding for the posts at crosswalks on the trail.

Ramos was released from the hospital Friday and now uses a wheelchair.

”Her right lung collapsed. She has (a) left broken femur, left broken wrist, kidney and liver lacerations,” said her mother, Marti Ramos.

Gonzalez, who suffers from memory loss, spent five days in the hospital and has burns all along the left side of her body.

”She is scarred for the rest of her life, she is scarred,” said her mother, Tencia Estrada. “It’s pretty ugly.”

Police have arrested the 16-year-old boy accused of hitting him. Witnesses said he lost control of his car in the rain and sped away instead of stopping to help.

“It was awful, it was just something you don't think is going to happen,” Marti Ramos said. “You think you are safe.”

Doctors say it may be a year before her daughter can walk again.

That's also how long doctors expect it will take to determine the extent of Gelika Gonzalez' brain damage.

“I'm very grateful to Jesus that she is still here,” Estrada said. “It wasn't their time. God has got other things for them.”

Both mothers said they were thankful to all the J.L. Long students and their parents and teachers for their support and prayers.