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Huron student, 16, mourned Sonia Ahmed was traveling to take driver's exam when her car collided with truck, killing her and injuring her mother
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
BY AMALIE NASH
News Staff Reporters
The new school year opened on a sad note at Ann Arbor's Huron High School this morning as friends and classmates mourned a 16-year-old student who died in a car crash Monday while she was on her way to take a driving test.
Sonia Ahmed, who had a learner's license, was behind the wheel of a red Acura Integra that pulled in front of a double-bottom gravel hauler, causing a devastating wreck that instantly killed her and critically injured her mother, police said.
Investigators from the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department said driver inexperience was a factor into the 10:40 a.m. crash at the intersection of Ann Arbor-Saline and Ellsworth roads. The crash shut down the busy road for much of the day.
Ahmed was driving west on a dirt portion of Ellsworth Road when she reached a stop sign at Ann Arbor-Saline Road, Sheriff's Cmdr. Dave Egeler said. She stopped and then pulled forward into the path of a northbound gravel hauler, whose driver locked the brakes in an attempt to stop, Egeler said.
"Two witnesses saw her stop, pull forward to look, inch forward a little more, then start to go," Egeler said. "She drove into the path of the gravel truck, and the driver had virtually split seconds to react."
The impact crushed the small car and pushed it into a ditch adjacent to the Lake Forest Golf Course, where it severed guy wires connecting to an electrical utility pole, Egeler said. The cab of the gravel truck also went into the ditch, and its two trailers overturned, spilling sand onto the roadway.
Ahmed was heading from her family's Pittsfield Township home to take a driver's license test at the All Star Driver Education testing site at the Ann Arbor Baptist Church on South Wagner Road when the crash occurred, Egeler said. Ahmed's mother, 47-year-old Shagufta Ahmed, was in the passenger's seat.
Shagufta Ahmed was in critical but stable condition at the University of Michigan Medical Center this morning, authorities said. She was pulled from the wreckage before help arrived by other drivers who witnessed the crash, Saline Fire Chief Craig Hoeft said.
Ahmed and her mother were wearing seat belts, police said.
Muhammad Khalil Ahmed, Sonia's father, said his wife has broken ribs and a collapsed lung, but is expected to be released from the hospital within the next week. He said they have not told her about Sonia's death.
"She wants to know how Sonia is doing," he said from their home this morning. "She doesn't know. Nobody has told her yet. Maybe tomorrow."
Muhammad Khalil Ahmed said his daughter was a straight A student.
"She was not only a daughter, but a friend, also," he said. "It was a great loss."
News of the accident spread quickly among Ahmed's classmates and friends in the Ann Arbor area's close-knit Muslim community, officials said. Ahmed, who turned 16 on June 23, was entering her junior year.
Teachers at the Michigan Islamic Academy in Ann Arbor, where Ahmed graduated after 8th grade, said students were gathered in groups crying as word of the accident spread.
Neda Mufid, an academy student who knew Ahmed for seven years, went to the hospital after school and learned the friend she last spoke with Sunday night was dead. In their final conversation, Ahmed spoke about how excited she was for the start of school and for getting her driver's license, Mufid said. She was also looking forward to attending the Islamic Society of North America's national convention in Chicago this weekend.
Mufid said Ahmed wanted to become a doctor to help people while standing as an example for other Muslim youth.
"My role model is gone," Mufid said. "She was so perfect and stood out from others academically and in so many other ways. She was really there for me as a friend and I'm going to miss her. It's so hard to grasp."
Prayers in Ahmed's behalf will be offered today during the afternoon prayer service at the Ann Arbor mosque. Funeral arrangements were pending.
Two Huron High students told Marcus Edmonson, principal for the 11th grade, of the accident during a meeting at the school Monday afternoon.
"It was a total shock," Edmonson said. "You don't expect to start the school year like this with a tragedy, and this will impact us big time. She was well respected by her peers, her teachers and everyone here."
High School Principal Dr. Arthur Williams said he planned to call staff in early this morning for an emergency meeting in response to the accident and to have them inform students that counselors from the district's crisis team will be available throughout the day and week.
Williams said Ahmed was a star student enrolled in several accelerated classes. She also was a member of the school's track team and a model teenager with a mild manner and sincere personality.
"She was the kind of person, that as principal, you would want all your students to be like," he said. "It's such an emotional roller coaster for us because the opening of school should be an exciting, joyous time, and now one of our family members is tragically not with us anymore."
Classmates described Ahmed as a friendly and smart student.
"She was just really nice, really smart," said Ashley Beers, who had ninth-grade algebra with Ahmed. "She was probably going to be like someone who worked in a hospital, someone really sweet. It's so sad."
Catherine Mooney, a 15-year-old junior, said Ahmed always had a smile for everyone. "When you went up to talk to her, she was never mean," she said.
Ann Arbor-Saline Road was closed for seven hours Monday. About 118 Detroit Edison customers were without power until the evening after utility crews shut off electricity to prevent problems caused by the downed wires, officials said.
The truck driver, from Whittaker-Gooding Trucking Co. of Ypsilanti, was evaluated and released from St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Saline. His truck smashed into the driver's side of the Integra, and the cab remained upright while the trailers tipped, Egeler said. There's no indication that he was speeding, police said.
Shortly after the crash, officials at the nearby First Unitarian Universalist Church on Ann Arbor-Saline Road called to report smoke in their building, Hoeft said. The downed lines caused the electricity to partially malfunction in the building, where small appliances were beginning to smoke, Hoeft said. The electricity was shut off until crews from Detroit Edison arrived.
The intersection of Ann Arbor-Saline Road and Ellsworth Road has been plagued with several fatal and serious crashes in recent years, Hoeft said.
"It's a very tricky intersection and has limited sight distance," Hoeft said.
Staff reporters Ann Schimke and Tom Gantert contributed to this report. Amalie Nash can be reached at
anash@annarbornews.com or (734) 994-6832.
