Teen injured in Brighton crash: "I feel like it's a dream."

Posted at: 10/10/2012 4:36 PM | Updated at: 10/10/2012 6:26 PM
By: Amanda Ciavarri | WHEC.com

One of the teens in Tuesday’s crash in Brighton spoke with News10NBC.

Kevin Thapa is a junior at Brighton High School. He was released from the hospital Tuesday night.

Thapa says he is sore and still in some pain, but overall, he is doing much better that he was on Tuesday and know he’s very lucky.

Thapa said, “We were driving to Scott’s house and as we got to Scott’s, he just hit a bus.”

Sixteen year old Kevin Thapa says he doesn’t remember much from Tuesday’s crash on Warren Avenue, but he says the driver may have been speeding.

Thapa said, “It all just kind of happened so fast, but it was around a bend kind of. There were no distractions I remember that specifically. He was not texting or calling anyone.  I remember waking up and seeing one of the others, the girl Christa’s face, just completely mortified.”

Thapa was told he helped his friends out of the car, but the only thing he remembers are the paramedics cutting off his clothes.

Thapa said, “I fully regained my consciousness at the hospital on the bed.”

Thapa’s mother says the hospital called and told her about the crash. She and her husband rushed to Strong.

Kalapana Thapa, Kevin’s mother said, “I couldn’t recognize which was my baby. There were two boys laying down both with that neck thing. I said, ‘Which one is my child?’ They said that one and I started crying.”

After being checked out and stitched up, Thapa went home Tuesday night.

Thapa said, “I must have like bashed myself against the seat during the thing and then I guess glass must have just flew and cut me.”

Thapa was sitting behind the driver. The left side of the car was the side that wasn’t completely under the bus. Thapa says he knows how lucky he is.

Thapa said, “It's just horrible since him and I were on the left side, more toward the left, he wasn't hit at all pretty much and I wasn't as badly hit cause I was on the left side but the two people on the right side were pretty badly injured.”

Thapa says he’s known Scott Collins and John Zakhary for years. They played soccer together as freshman and became good friends with Christa Mickol earlier this year. Right now, he’s just hoping his friends get better soon.

Thapa said, “I feel like it is a dream, but it's not a dream cause I know this is real life right now.”

News10NBC spoke to the father of the teen who was driving, John Zakhary. He was also able to go home Tuesday. His father said physically he is okay, but the whole situation is very tough. Right now, they are just hoping the teens still in the hospital make a full recovery.

Thapa said he was in the car because his work shift was cancelled. He needed a ride home and his friends offered.

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