Three weeks before graduation, an 18-year-old Cascade Christian High School senior was seriously injured in a car accident last week near Lake Tapps.
Sarah Davis, a cheerleader at the Puyallup private school, was listed in critical condition at Tacoma General Hospital following the accident on May 15. She suffered numerous injuries, including five breaks to her pelvis, breaks to her tibia, nose and jaw, as well as internal bleeding and internal injuries.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer reported that a 44-year-old man from Tacoma was driving his 2001 F-350 “well in excess of the speed limit” when he struck the driver’s side of Davis’ vehicle.
Davis, who lives in Graham, had been visiting her boyfriend and was pulling out from the driveway after 9 p.m. in the 4100 block of West Tapps Drive East.
Her boyfriend, Cody Johnson, a junior at Sumner High, said he witnessed the accident and saw Davis ejected from her 2003 Ford Mustang.
Johnson said the man in the truck continued down the road and struck another vehicle before coming to a stop. No one was hurt in the second vehicle.
Passengers from the second car notified Johnson and his father, Phillip, that Davis was behind their car. Davis reportedly was not breathing; Phillip performed CPR until emergency medical services personnel arrived.
Troyer said the field sobriety tests were performed on the male driver, and alcohol may have been a factor in the crash. The man had not been charged with a crime at press time Monday.
Jackie Davis, Sarah’s mother, said Saturday that “it’s unreal” how many people have shown their support for Sarah and her family.
The walls of her hospital room are covered in cards, hand-written signs and posters that contain photographs of friends and family.“You hear stories about how bad some people are in this world, but then this happens,” Jackie said. “Since the accident, thousands of people worldwide have responded. Many people have come to the hospital to stand with us, to pray with us.”
“It restores our faith in people,” Allen Davis, Sarah’s father, said.
At one point, there were 35 people in the waiting area in the intensive care unit, the family said.
“We are definitely blessed,” said Brian Hagge, Sarah’s step-father. “Everyone has been on her side.”
Davis has undergone surgery to repair her internal injuries and install screws, a plate and a wire in her jaw. She was scheduled for surgery on her pelvis and clavicle Monday, and underwent treatment on a blood clot in one of her legs. Davis responds to voices and did not suffer any brain or spinal injuries, family members said.
Davis has been a cheerleader at Cascade Christian. She has been accepted at Pacific Lutheran University and plans to study nursing. She was named to the university’s cheerleading squad.
Jackie said a Bible that Sarah kept in her glove box was found on the passenger seat of her Mustang.
“That was God’s way of saying, ‘I was sitting here with her,’ ” she said.
Suzanne Keil, associate principal at Cascade Christian, said if Sarah can’t attend graduation June 8, ASB President Taylor Ford will pray for her at the beginning of the ceremony and place a rose on her chair.
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