Candles and flowers were left on a sidewalk next to a tree outside a middle school in Los Angeles' Exposition Park area Friday morning in tribute to a 14-year-old student who died when she was struck by a big rig.
The girl's 12-year-old sister, also struck Thursday morning by the truck, remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday. Amy Lorenzo, 12, and Marlene Lorenzo, 14, were struck near 37th Street and Broadway as they walked to Clinton Middle School.
The trucker -- who stayed at the scene -- cooperated with investigators and was not arrested, police said.
Classmates witnessed the sisters being trapped and dragged by the truck. Once in a full stop, a friend ran to where the sisters where stuck underneath the truck.
"She grabbed her friend's hand and told her to hang in there," said Detective Moses Castillo of the Los Angeles Police Department's Traffic Division.
According to reports from the scene, the truck driver was heading west on 37th Street and struck the girls while making a right turn.
"Tragedy happened today," said the girls' uncle Antonio Lorenzo, who like any other day said goodbye to his nieces before they went to school.
"Marlene was a good student, great student, great girl, great person," he said, "she cared about her sister, her brothers. She was going to graduate middle school in June and that was going to happen..it's not happening anymore."
While on scene, LAPD went as far as to make the driver of the big rig to reenact his turn.
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They said no alcohol or drugs played a factor in this situation, but will get a hold of the driver's phone records to see if he was on his cellphone, or perhaps texting when the accident happened.
"He says he never saw them," Detective Castillo said about the driver. "So the question is why he didn't see them, that's what we're trying to figure out."
The Lorenzo family has created a GoFundMe campaign to support Marlene's burial expenses and Amy's medical care.
