GREELEY — She’s driven past the cross on F Street many times. She had to do it. Her doctor told her, her friends told her and Christina Walls told herself.
It’s been five months since the crash, since the girl died, since the boy looked up at Walls’ face just before the terrible crash. Walls still remembers, still sees it all happening.
A wooden cross now marks the spot where the crash happened.
The cross is covered with teddy bears and flowers and words of sympathy. This is where 15-year-old Karla Mendoza-Gonzalez died on Feb. 2. Her brother was driving the car that pulled out from a stop sign into the path of Walls’ school bus.
That collision will haunt many people for the rest of their lives.
Walls is still struggling, although the way she acted after the crash could be considered heroic. She had 12 kids on the bus — first- through ninth-graders — when the vehicles collided; Walls was injured. Her hand and neck still give her severe pain.
But she got the kids off the bus, moved them to an area where they couldn’t see the wreckage or the injured teens and got medical attention for her passengers.
After she was sure everyone else was safe, Walls still refused to take an ambulance to the hospital.
“The kids didn’t need to see me in the ambulance,” Walls says today. “My superintendent took me to the hospital.”
It was at the hospital, away from the kids, that she learned a girl died in the crash. Walls collapsed and went into shock.
It is Francisco Mendoza-Gonzalez’s face she saw that day, driving the car, looking at her just before the 10-ton bus hit the one-ton car. He was 16 years old and didn’t have a driver’s license.
Since the crash, Walls has been in the care of several doctors for her injuries. She has a therapist who has helped her with the difficult memories.
Two weeks ago, Francisco Mendoza-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to careless driving resulting in death — a misdemeanor — and received a year’s probation. He also must perform 40 hours of community service and take safe-driving classes.
Walls thinks the sentence should have been stricter.
“I know he and his family suffered a terrible tragedy,” Walls says. “. . . But he shouldn’t have been driving. His parents shouldn’t have allowed him to drive. Now they have that for the rest of their lives.”
The Mendoza-Gonzalez family was not available for comment. Their attorney, Dan Trevino of Greeley, said at a court hearing for Francisco: “This is a tragedy the family has to deal with for a lifetime. This plea agreement will help them to recover.”
