Community Pushes for Crossing Guard After 10-Year-Old Girl Struck by Car Near School

A 10-year-old girl was in a medically-induced coma after getting hit by a car while crossing the street near a San Gabriel school, highlighting the need for a crossing guard, community members said Tuesday. 

"I just want my daughter home with us right now and we know that's just not going to happen overnight," Arlene Garcia, the girl's mother said.

Lexy Garcia was running across Muscatel Street Wednesday after attending Jefferson Middle School.

She was not in a cross walk, and witnesses said the car that pulled out of the gas station on the corner just couldn't stop in time.

"It's horrible. Horrific," Lexy's mother said.

Her phone, her back pack, her body were left scattered on the pavement.

Lexy's family said through the bruising and broken bones, there were moments they weren't sure she was going to survive.

"You hearing them saying she's declining," Lexy’s mother said.

Lexy’s 16-year-old brother said he has even had close calls with cars speeding in the school zone.

He has been by her side during her recovery.

"And what made it worse, when I asked my dad how she was, his response was: 'We don't know yet,'" David Garcia said.

Lexy has a metal plate in her head, a crushed jaw and crushed cheek bones.

"She has a long road to recovery. She has tubes in her head, she had breathing tubes as well, a neck brace, everything you don't want to see a child with," Lexy’s mother Arlene said.

Now the focus is on the intersection near where the accident happened: Las Tunas Drive is six lanes of heavy traffic with no crossing guard posted, just feet from Jefferson Middle School.

"Add a level of visibility, of safety and awareness that this is a school zone in this area," said Matt Arnold, principal.

Arnold shared a card Lexy’s 7th grade class made for her. He said students at her school are learning a lesson here too.

"We had a message to parents and to students just to be safe about their surroundings around school," Arnold said.

But the message has left some parents pointing the finger at those who could possibly fix the problem.

"It angers me because this could have been prevented," Arlene Garcia said. "If somebody was there watching, she would have done the right thing."

Lexy’s mother said she is hoping her daughter may try to walk by Thursday - her 11th birthday.