(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A southwest suburban pastor says a girl who died after a crash outside his church this week had been leaving a youth ministry get-together.
Plainfield police say 12-year old Gianna Lamb was badly injured and later died after getting out of a car that had been involved in a crash at Route 59 and Riverwalk Court on Wednesday night.
Pastor John Ciesniewski of Community Christian Church says the girl’s teenage cousin had been driving and had just turned left onto Route 59 when the collision happened. Police say young people had been in a Nissan Rogue and that the other car in the crash was a RAV4 that had been on Route 59.
Ciesniewski said there have many crashes at the intersection, and he has tried unsuccessfully for years to have a traffic signal placed there.
Airbags deployed, and Lamb got out of the car, he said. When she tried to cross Route 59 she was hit by an oncoming car that was, coincidentally, driven by another member of the pastor’s church.
“Horrific -- to describe that scenario, it’s like, how could that possibly happen? But it happened,” he said.
Pastor Ciesniewski says the young man driving the Ford Fusion that hit the girl is devastated by what happened.
“We don’t know what caused her to get out of the car. Maybe it was the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome, startled, the airbags go off. She gets out of the back seat and, she’s in the middle of Route 59.”
The death of Gianna may be what finally prompts officials to approve a traffic signal at Rt. 59 and Riverwalk Court, he said.
Ciesniewski said the young people had been leaving StuCo, short for Student Community, at Community Christian Church. The pastor says StuCo is held every Wednesday night at the church and draws a couple of hundred young people.
Police say the crashes happened at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and that the 12-year old girl was first taken to a local hospital before being transferred to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she died about 15 hours later.
Plainfield Police Cmdr. Anthony Novak tells WBBM Newsradio no tickets or charges have been issued at this point, and the crashes are still under investigation.
The commander says the driver of the RAV4 had the right of way on Route 59 for the initial crash and that, preliminarily, the indication is the driver of the Ford Fusion that hit the 12-year old girl did not do anything wrong and is not likely to be charged.
He says an Illinois State Police accident reconstruction crew will provide Plainfield police with data to help in their investigation. Plainfield investigators continue to conduct interviews and look for possible video that may be helpful to them.
A memorial service and celebration of life service are scheduled for Friday Jan. 26. Meantime, a Go Fund Me page has been set up for Gianna's family.
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