The driver stopped in the crosswalk after hitting the girl and remained at the crash site, Lorenz said. The driver was going about 10 miles per hour and appeared to be distracted at the moment she hit Nalbandian, he said. The girl also appeared not to have seen the car approaching.
The driver was remorseful and cooperative with investigators, he noted.
“There are two mothers here who are absolutely devastated,” Lorenz said.
Paramedics arrived and transported Nalbandian to the nearest hospital because her injuries were severe, Lorenz said.
Doctors tried to revive her after they discovered she had a delayed pulse that came every five seconds.
Glendale Unified School District administrators met inside the middle school to discuss a plan to make grief counseling available for students and staff members.
Parents use the street to drop off their children at Toll, Hoover High School and Mark Keppel Elementary School, which are all on Glenwood. Hoover High students watched from the school’s balcony as police investigated the crash.
“It’s everyone’s nightmare,” said Linda Gubler Junge, the Glendale Unified School District’s public information director.
School district officials sent out a recorded message to parents at the three schools about the crash and let them know grief counseling would be available.
School counselors throughout the district were asked to come to the middle school to provide support, Supt. Michael Escalante said.
Counselors were also made available to the victim’s siblings as well as the driver’s children, he said.
“It’s absolutely tragic,” Escalante said.
