The woman in the sport utility vehicle looked one way. The child looked another. In an instant, a school crosswalk became a scene of horror.
A day after a Glendale sixth-grader was struck and killed in front of her mother and classmates, school officials, parents and students struggled to make sense of the tragedy Thursday.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, November 01, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 71 words Type of Material: Correction
Crosswalk: An article in Friday's California section about 11-year-old Meri Nalbandyan, who was struck by a car and killed in a Glendale school crosswalk, said her father, Grigor, "returned repeatedly to the crosswalk where the eldest of the family's two daughters lighted candles and lay flowers." In fact, he returned repeatedly to the crosswalk where the eldest of his two daughters died to light candles and lay flowers in her memory.
"It's every parent's nightmare," said one mother still shaken by the sight of 11-year-old Meri Nalbandyan lying dead on the street outside Eleanor J. Toll Middle School. "What if it were my child? I'd go crazy."
Questions came more easily than answers -- even to the police investigating the driver, a mother who had just dropped off her own child.
"How come the student didn't stop or get out of the way or see the car coming," asked Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz. "As fate would have it, she too was looking in the wrong direction."
Through a cousin, Meri's parents said they were devastated.
Her mother, Lilit, dropped Meri off at school moments before the accident. She called her daughter "an angel."
Meri's father, Grigor, has returned repeatedly to the crosswalk where the eldest of the family's two daughters lighted candles and lay flowers.
"When we remember Meri, we envision a bright, luminous smile covering her face. She was the embodiment of innocence and purity for us. Now we drown in tears of sorrow," her family said in a statement.
Inside the foyer of the school, Meri's classmates -- some in tears -- scribbled notes on a large, pink poster.
"Dear Meri, you are and always will be my best friend," one girl wrote. "We ♥ u so much. I hope you are watching us in heaven!"
The first poster was already so full by midmorning that another blank board had to be added.
Principal Paula Nelson said Meri's death was a reminder to parents "to slow down, leave 15 minutes earlier and stop."
She said parents should "be defensive drivers and tell their children to be defensive walkers."
After Meri was hit about 8 a.m. by a sport utility vehicle, she was taken to Glendale Adventist Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
A number of children witnessed the accident, but Nelson said she wasn't sure how many.
She said more than 20 children have met with grief counselors.
All classes spent first period talking about the accident, with students sharing their thoughts. Sixth-graders wrote essays about Meri and drew pictures.
