One 12-year-old Ottawa girl is counting her blessings after a hit-and-run in east Ottawa that could have been a lot worse.
Kalie Panula was on her way to catch a city bus to Immaculata High School Thursday morning when she went to cross the street.
She said a car pulled out from behind the bus and didn't appear to try and stop.
"It started slowing down but it sped up when it saw me and ran head-on into my side," she said. "When I got up I looked the driver in the eye and he kept going."
She said she was thrown a couple of feet but landed on her backpack, stopping her from hitting her head.
Panula got on the bus and texted her mother when she got to school.
"The text I got was ‘Mommy I got hit by a car,'" said Sari Panula.
Sari said she rushed to school to find her daughter talking to police before she took her to hospital.
Kalie said the man who hit her was a scrawny man in his 50s driving a grey Honda CRV
"In so many ways she was so lucky, and I'm grateful that it didn't turn out worse than it did," Sari said.
Residents say they tried to get a speed bump installed on the corner a few years ago, but that motion went nowhere.
While some hit-and-run victims can't talk about their experience afterward, Kalie said she's lucky she wasn't more seriously injured.
"It's still sore, it feels like there's a bruise here now," she said. "It made me appreciate that I need to appreciate life more, because it could be gone in the blink of an eye."
Her message to the man who hit her – be a better driver.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Joanne Schnurr
