SEATTLE — Jamaica Corpuz is a proud mom.
“She does violin, she does private lessons too, she’s teaching herself the piano too,” she said of her daughter, 13-year-old Symphony Johnson. Symphony is ASB vice president at her school and plays volleyball and basketball.
Around 3:30 pm on Monday, she decided to walk home from Sequoyah Middle School in King County, near Auburn.
“It was her first time trying to walk home from school,” said Corpuz.
That’s when Corpuz got a phone call. “They said, your daughter got hit by a car.”
The sidewalk had ended and Symphony was walking on the shoulder facing traffic. “I just dropped everything and came straight here,” said Corpuz.
Symphony has been at Harborview Medical Center all week with two broken legs, a broken hip, knee and jaw. According to her mom, she keeps asking when she'll get to go back to school.
The Washington Safety Traffic Commission says Washington saw a drastic increase in pedestrian fatalities from 2020 to 2021.
"Our goal was to have zero fatalities on Washington roads by 2030 and currently we're headed in the wrong direction," said Mark McKechnie who is the Director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
This year, all traffic fatalities are on the rise.
“We are on pace to see 700 [traffic] fatalities in Washington this year which would be the highest in decades,” said McKechnie.
Corpuz is now hoping that drivers are more mindful and aware of their surroundings. “She did what she was supposed to, she was careful, but you can’t move faster than a moving car,” she said.
Grateful to have her daughter here for Christmas, Symphony has many weeks ahead in a wheelchair and physical therapy.
“It’s all about the attitude," said Corpuz. "She has a lot of support. We’ll all be there for her.”
The King County Sheriff’s Office said a specialized unit is investigating what happened. There have been no arrests in this case.
A GoFundMe for Symphony can be found here.