The young dancers were on their way to dinner following an afternoon of rehearsals when a speeding vehicle came barreling down the street, ran the light and hit the dancers’ car.
Five California ballet dancers were seriously injured in a hit-and-run car crash.
The young dancers were on their way to dinner following an afternoon of rehearsals when a speeding vehicle came barreling down the street, ran the light and hit the dancers’ car.
They were practicing their big spring recital for months when the accident derailed their performance.
Camille Williamson, 17, is now confined to her bed while she recovers.
“I can’t do anything on my own,” she tells Inside Edition. “I can’t even stand up."
Rhyann Diaz, who was in the back seat of the car, is in a wheelchair healing from a shattered pelvis and punctured lung.
“It has been really hard to stop and not be able to move at all,” she says.
Katrina Sonwane needs a walker to get around. She suffered a broken tailbone.
Saori Maeda, who was driving, recently reunited with her friends to return their personal belongings left behind in the wreck.
The girls make up most of the company of Premier Dance Arts of Los Alamitos. They had been practicing for months for their big spring recital when the collision derailed their performance.
But the show will go on. The performers’ fellow dancers will take their place on stage.
“They want show the girls that are hurt that they can hold it down for them while they are gone,” David Kim tells Inside Edition.
Most of the dancers won’t have recovered enough to perform in the recital, which has become a benefit to help with the girls with their medical bills.
“I want to pick up where I left off, but I don’t know if I can do that,” Camille says. “So, I’m just kind of scared, but I’m going to try.”
A suspect in the hit-and-run turned himself into police. He has been booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run with bodily injury.
