Students and faculty at Archbishop McCarthy High School held a prayer service Thursday morning for the teen girl who was struck and seriously injured outside the Southwest Ranches school just the day before.
Palida Pongpluempitichai, 17, known to her friends as Monica, was hit by a car driven by 71-year-old Marie Baguidy in the school's parking lot Wednesday afternoon, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
Baguidy, who was at the school to pick up her grandchildren, somehow lost control of her car, which accelerated in reverse, jumped a sidewalk and struck Pongpluempitichai and narrowly missed another student, 15-year-old Aaron Herrera.
When rescue workers got to the school at 5451 S. Flamingo Road, they found Pongpluempitichai's leg had been severed. Pongpluempitichai was airlifted to Memorial Regional Hospital in critical condition. As of Thursday morning, her condition was unknown.
Several horrified students witnessed the entire scene unfold.
Police are still investigating how Baguidy lost control of her car, a Toyota Corolla.
Students at the prayer service lit candles for the students injured in the crash as well as Baguidy and the entire student body.
