Published: Nov. 27, 2018
By: Britt Lofaso and Kennedi Walker, LSU Manship School News Service
Mari Dehrab was waiting to cross a busy street on the LSU campus when everything went black. A car had careened onto the sidewalk and hit her and three others before slamming into a light pole.
Dehrab, 23, suffered a brain tear, causing memory loss so severe that, at one point, she could not remember some of her family members. One of her ankles was broken and the other sprained, confining her to wheelchair for six weeks. She had to drop out of school this semester, ending her hope of graduating in the spring with a degree in mass communication.
“I went through such a big depression, and I still have depression,” she said. “My life has been put on pause because of this accident.”
Dehrab is one of 41 pedestrians hit by cars on LSU’s main campus over the last five years. At least four suffered incapacitating injuries, including a woman placed in a medically induced coma for two weeks after a spinal injury. Ten other pedestrians suffered injuries the LSU Police Department described as “moderate,” without giving details, and 15 more complained of possible injuries. The rest were not injured.
Dehrab, of New Iberia, was hurt Aug. 24, five days into the semester, while she was on her way to class. One car knocked another one onto a sidewalk at Nicholson and Skip Bertman drives. Two other students suffered concussions, with one suffering a broken pelvis and sacrum and some brain bleeding. The other pedestrian had moderate injuries, but police didn’t provide specifics.
Read more in The Advocate.
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