'It's Traumatizing': Delaware Community Gathers For Candlelight Vigil To Remember Teen Killed In Crash With School Bus
MINQUADALE, Del. (CBS) — A Delaware community is coming together to mourn the loss of a teenager who was killed when the car she was driving collided with a school bus. More than 100 friends and loved ones gathered Friday night at the place where 16-year-old Jordan Tate lost her life.
"This is very bad that it happened to someone that young," one person said.
Tate, a junior involved in ROTC at William Penn High School in New Castle, Delaware, lost her life at the intersection of Memorial and Karlyn Drives in Minquadale, after the car she was driving on Thursday collided with a school bus.
"I started seeing all of the cop cars coming down and that's when I saw the car on the median," another woman said.
Nearly two dozen students from Eisenberg Elementary School were on the bus.
The Colonial School District says those students were shaken but unharmed.
Three other 16-year-old girls -- all William Penn students -- were in the car at the time of the accident.
One is fighting for her life, while a second is in the hospital with a broken nose.
And the third, Dezrae Purdie, was able to make it to the vigil.
"It was very unexpected. It came out of the blue. We were just laughing and then all of a sudden we was blacked out. It was crazy," she said.
Their classmates at William Penn are shaken.
"To see that it happened to someone that goes to my school, it's traumatizing," Azhir Jones said.
On Friday, students solemnly signed posters in Jordan's honor. Her friends called her a selfless person who always looked out for others.
Eyewitness News spoke with a woman who was at the scene following the crash-- she was a different bus driver who tried to save Tate's life.
"I came over to the car and I tried to help the young lady that was in the back that was airlifted. I tried desperately to save the driver of the car to the point that I ran back to my bus to get my nurse and when I saw there was not much I could do, I just sat in the car and held her hand and tell her how much her family loved her," Michelle Robinson Patrick said.
Aki Newman organized the vigil for his best friend.
"She was always there for all of us. When we needed money, rides -- all that. She was the best person that she could be for us," the 18-year-old said.
Crisis teams and grief counselors were on hand in the school's auditorium. There was also a moment of silence in the morning.
"Administrators and teachers saw that this young girl was just at the point of maturing and they saw her potential. She will be deeply, deeply missed," Lauren Wilson from the Colonial School District said.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
CBS3's Chantee Lans and Kimberly Davis contributed to this report.
