Family and friends of Ottawa hit-and-run victim hoping she can meet Justin Bieber
A social media campaign is underway to reach Justin Bieber in order to put a smile on the face of a young girl who is the victim of a hit-and-run.
Serene Summers was hit by the driver of a vehicle on Feb. 13 while crossing the street on Meadowlands Drive near Orkney Private. The driver left the scene.
Summers is now awake at CHEO.
“Serene is doing remarkably well, despite the chronic neuropathic pain that she suffers from now as a result of the incident,” her mother Anita Armstrong tells CTV News Ottawa. “It’s just really terrible to see her in such pain, and trying to push through it every day.”
Summers had tickets to see Justin Bieber in concert this Sunday at the Canadian Tire Centre, but her mother says it’s not feasible.
“Heartbreakingly though, one of the leads of rehab pulled me aside the other day and just said, ‘This just cannot happen,’” says Armstrong.
“You know, as well as she’s doing, it’s still extremely frightening because the severity of her brain injury — there’s no way of the neurologists knowing the extent of it, the extent of the damage or the long term effects that it will have on her, and that’s just terrifying for a parent,” said Armstrong.
A Twitter campaign is now trying to use the power of social media to get Bieber’s attention.
“It was actually initiated by Councillor (Keith) Egli,” says Colleen Salinas, who runs the Twitter account ‘Justice for Serene’. Her daughter was with Serene when the hit-and-run occurred. “(The councillor) had seen in another news article that Serene was hoping to go to the concert, which she had tickets for this Sunday, so he just tweeted out that wouldn’t it be nice if we could get Justin to either meet or do a little something for Serene.”
“I’m hoping for a meet and greet at CHEO,” Armstrong tells CTV News Ottawa. “I know that’s a bit far-fetched but I would love for Justin to maybe give a shout-out at the concert, encourage Ottawans to please come forward if anyone has any information about the person that was driving that day.”
Police are still looking to identify the driver involved and have previously released photos of a vehicle of interest that's believed to be a 2006-2011 two-door black Honda Civic that likely has damage to the front end and windshield.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa police collisions investigation unit at 613-236-1222 ext. 2481 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 613-233-8477 (TIPS) or toll free at 1-800-222-8477.
-With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Katie Griffin.
Correction
An earlier version of this article mistakenly attributed the social media campaign to an idea by councillor Eli El-Chantiry. It was, in fact, inspired by councillor Keith Egli.
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