Family identifies 17-year-old girl who was fatally struck by vehicle in Pineridge

The family of a 17-year-old girl killed in a collision in Pineridge on Wednesday says she was just months away from graduating.

Amy Tran, a Grade 12 student at Lester B. Pearson High School, was walking home after finishing her social studies diploma exam when she was run over in a marked crosswalk at a four-way stop at the intersection of Rundlehorn Drive and 26 Avenue N.E.

“She’s walking home, (and) on the way home she crossed that one (intersection), and then I don’t know who was driving that crazy car, it’s driving so crazy, speeding and it came from over there and you can see, you can tell how far (she was dragged),” said an emotional Duc Tran, Amy’s father.

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Duc visited the crash site on Thursday with family members to assess exactly how his daughter died.

He was left distraught after finding out his daughter had died on Wednesday night.

“The police came to my home, then, at that time, I was at work, and I didn’t know anything was happening (and) they told me,” he said.

Investigators and the fire department responded to the intersection for reports that a pedestrian had been struck around 1:45 p.m.

A preliminary investigation revealed that a grey 2019 Ford Ecosport, driven by a 75-year-old woman, was travelling south on Rundlehorn Drive before striking the teenager.

Tran was in a marked crosswalk at 26 Avenue N.E. when she was hit.

Firefighters assisted in freeing Tran, who was pinned beneath the vehicle, but she was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Tran’s older sister, who did not want to be identified, said she was left in disbelief by her sister’s passing.

“We were very close,” she said.

“The officer told me that she probably died on impact, so she wasn’t suffering.”

The driver was uninjured and remained on the scene.

Speed and alcohol are not believed to be factors in the collision, but police are investigating whether the driver failed to obey a stop sign.

Tran’s sister says Amy had just been accepted into the University of Calgary’s electrical engineering program.

She said she was proud of what her sister had accomplished and was excited to do Amy’s makeup for her high school graduation this year.

“I feel like I should have skipped classes to go pick her up or something,” she said.

“We would walk home along this route every day, since Grade Seven for me, until Grade 12, and for her as well. Usually, she would be walking home with a group of friends.”

But Tran’s sister says that Amy’s friends had all finished their exams and chose alternate transportation options on Wednesday, the reason she points to as to why Amy was walking alone.

“They (her friends) either got picked up or they took the bus, and then on the way home on the bus, they saw that this intersection was blocked off,” she said.

“On my way home yesterday from my classes, I also saw it was blocked off. I just didn’t know.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 403-266-1234. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers.

The Tran family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover funeral expenses.