Students recover from last Friday’s accident
Car damages to be assessed; lawsuit pending

By Alisha Brown
Staff Reporter

A week after two students were involved in a car accident near campus, both are tending to wounds, and soon they may be calling their lawyers.

Although both are recovering, their injuries may be more serious than first thought.

The accident happened at about 10:50 a.m. Friday when sophomore e-business major Courtney Wallis was on her way to mail a Valentine’s Day package to her parents.

“I had a whole schedule planned for the day,” Wallis said, but her plans were canceled soon thereafter.

Wallis was traveling east on W. Devitt Street in her white 1996 Ford Mustang about to turn left onto W. Berry Street.

“There was a group of guys in a car behind me inching up,” she said. “ I could have gone plenty of times, but I waited. When I decided to turn it was clear except for a van who put on their blinker to turn right.”

She said when she pulled out to turn left, she never saw Michelle Wanta’s gold 1996 Nissan Sentra coming right at her.

“I assume she was behind the van, and when they put their blinker on she went around them like we all do,” Wallis said.

The police report did not confirm which lane Wanta, a graduate student in English, was traveling in. Wanta said if she recalls correctly, she had been driving in the left lane since the traffic light at University Drive and Berry Street.

Wanta’s Sentra broadsided Wallis’ Mustang on the driver’s side door. According to a police report, the Mustang veered right and stopped facing the oncoming traffic heading north down W. Berry Street.

“It was my fault,” Wallis said. “I never saw her until after everything was over.”

According to the police report, Wallis failed to yield to the right of way from a private driveway.

After the collision, Wallis’ door was crushed in and she was unable to get out. Out of instinct, she said, she climbed over to the passenger side and jumped out that door to rush to see if the other driver was injured.

“She said she was OK,” Wallis said. “I noticed her airbags were out. Thank God that saved her.”

From that point on, Wallis’ memory is sketchy. Bystanders seated her back in the passenger’s seat of her car. Wanta said the TCU Police arrived on the scene first. An ambulance was called for assistance when the Fort Worth Police arrived.

Wallis was thought to have suffered a concussion from hitting her head on the driver’s side window.

“I don’t remember getting in the ambulance, and I kept coming in and out (of consciousness),” she said.

Medical records attendant Jessie Schmidt said Wallis was admitted to Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital at 11:34 a.m. She was treated for a headache, head injury and a neck sprain and released at 4:20 p.m.

Wallis said the doctors ran a few CAT scans to make sure everything was OK. Nearly a week later, all that is left of the injury is a black eye and a few bruises. She even made her test on Monday.

“I’m just glad that’s all I have to show for it,” Wallis said.

Wanta said she was treated Saturday for whiplash and leg injuries. She declined to release further statements about the accident pending a law suit.

Both cars were towed, but the damages have not been assessed yet. Wallis said her car was not completely totaled, but Wanta’s was worse off. The accident was Wallis’ first.

“I always think I’m so careful, but I guess not this time,” Wallis said.

Alisha Brown
a.k.brown2@student.is.tcu.edu