SAN ANTONIO – People throughout the community are in disbelief about a crash Thursday afternoon that killed a preschool teacher and injured multiple children.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said a woman who had just loaded her children into her vehicle outside Montessori Excelled Plus School preschool suddenly began having a medical episode shortly after 4 p.m.
A report said the woman hit the gas, then backed into a parked car, causing both vehicles to plow through a fence.
Children were playing within the fenced-in area at the time.
The sheriff’s office says five children, all about a year old, were injured, along with a 23-year-old teacher.
All of them were taken to a hospital for treatment.
Another teacher, identified as Alexia Rosales, 22, was killed in the crash.
A fire chief with the Bexar County Emergency Services District 4 said in an email to KSAT that on top of those transported to the hospital, one adult and two children were treated and released on the scene.
“Just chaos. People running everywhere and going over to see if they could help,” said Linda Kosar, reflecting on what she witnessed immediately after the crash.
Kosar was working in a separate office nearby when she began hearing screams.
She said she bolted from behind her desk and ran outside.
“People were, like, actually going on the cars, themselves, to go ahead and view to see what they could see,” she said. “That’s when they found out that there were people pinned under the car.”
According to a spokesperson from a hospital where the five children and the 23-year-old woman were taken after the crash, the woman and three of the children were treated and released on Thursday.
Two children were admitted; one child was in good condition as of Friday morning, while the other is in critical condition, the spokesperson said.
Damage from the crash was still evident on the wall of the building and the collapsed and twisted fence panels on Friday morning.
A crew arrived later and began making repairs.
Healing from the hurt, though, will likely take a lot longer.
A spokeswoman for Excelled Montessori said the school would be making grief counseling services available for staff and families.
Members of the community also appeared to be deeply affected.
Throughout the day Friday, people drove up, some in tears, trying to see the area where the crash happened.
“Oh my God. I cried so much,” Kosar said. “We were praying. I mean, I was hugging strangers just because it was so traumatic.”
Kosar said the incident has made an everlasting impression on her, that she won’t soon forget the images she saw.
“My heart just goes out to the family and their friends and anybody who’s touched by this,” Kosar said. ”It’s just unfathomable.
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