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Teacher's child hit near school

The Plant High student, who is in critical condition, tried to cross Dale Mabry Highway..

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published March 14, 2006

TAMPA - Arielle Serrano didn't wait for the light.

While her friends and twin sister stood on the sidewalk Tuesday, the 14-year-old peeled off and ran.

The cleats she had been wearing for flag football practice carried her across one lane of 4 p.m. traffic on Dale Mabry Highway.

Then another. Then another.

As she crossed the fourth lane, Thomas Howse, in a white Ford Escort, could not stop in time. The jolting sound of the car striking the girl shocked the campus of Plant High School, where athletes and other students had been milling about.

A wave of kids ran toward the front of the campus. Others at Steak n Shake across the street turned and rushed toward the intersection of W San Carlos Street and S Dale Mabry Highway.

And there they saw Arielle, the chipper freshman, the daughter of popular Plant chemistry teacher Leshea Serrano, hurt and bleeding.

"Once you find out who it is and that you know her so well, your body just freezes up," said J.D. Hill, 17, a Plant junior who was walking across the front of the campus when he heard the boom and scurried to the scene.

Police said Arielle rode atop the car's hood for a few feet until Howse, a 28-year-old Army veteran and certified combat lifesaver who served in Iraq, was able to stop just on the south side of W San Carlos Street and perform CPR on her until paramedics arrived.

Arielle was in critical condition at Tampa General Hospital late Tuesday, spokesman John Dunn said.

Hill estimated as many as 150 or 200 people from the school were inside the hospital by 7 p.m., including students, school staff and administrators.

Dunn denied reporters access inside the emergency room.

"She's still living, right?" Hill asked Dunn outside the hospital.

"All I can tell you is she's critical," Dunn answered. "That's all I can say."

After Arielle was transported, Howse stood quietly by, watching investigators photograph his car and other evidence. Shards of yellow plastic were strewn across the road where the impact smashed his driver's side headlight.

Officers closed off two blocks of Dale Mabry Highway for two hours until the investigation was completed at 6:10 p.m.

Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said Howse was driving the speed limit.

He did not see Arielle in the road because another southbound vehicle to his left had stopped when the driver saw her, blocking Howse's view of the darting teenager. Howse was not charged.

He declined to discuss the incident at the scene. But McElroy credited him for his immediate response to Arielle's injuries.

While serving in Iraq as a convoy escort, Howse administered CPR a half-dozen times to wounded soldiers, McElroy said.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement records have no violations listed for Howse.

Plant sophomore Jackie Anseeuw, 16, said she was in the drive-through line at Stake n Shake when the accident happened.

She got out of her car and ran to the scene in time to see Arielle's twin, Alexis, running toward her injured sister.

Anseeuw said she couldn't keep from crying when she saw it. She'd attended Incarnation Catholic School in Tampa with the twins before they all came to Plant.

Though the Serrano girls are a year behind her, Anseeuw said she was thrilled to see them join the school, describing them both as "well-rounded," "outgoing" and "positive."

Carson said she twisted her knee during the tryouts and Arielle went out of her way to encourage her to "get back up and go out there and play."

In addition to playing football, Arielle is in chorus, a school district spokeswoman said.

Leshea Serrano, Arielle's mother and a teacher at the school for about five years, according to a school system spokeswoman, was at the school when the incident occurred.

Witnesses said within minutes, the teacher rushed into the street to try to pick up her daughter, but paramedics prevented her from doing so.

Carson said Ms. Serrano was clearly shaken, but being comforted by many inside the hospital late Tuesday.

The tragedy is the latest in a series of events that have rocked several Hillsborough schools in recent weeks.

As many as six Hillsborough public school students have died in tragic accidents in the last two weeks alone, school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said.

But the teens and adults who gathered in Arielle's name Tuesday night were praying for the girl's strength to pull her through.

And she imagined what the smiley teen might say if she could talk to the 150 or so gathered in her name at TGH late Tuesday:

"Keep your heads up," Carson offered. "And pray."

[Last modified March 14, 2006, 23:04:02]