MacArthur High School student struck, killed by pickup truck

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A local high school senior was killed Friday while simply walking to her bus stop to get to school.

What we don't yet know is whether the driver who hit 18-year-old Vanessa Garcia will face any charges.

The MacArthur student was hit while walking eastbound by a pickup that was heading westbound. Investigators say the pickup was passing a slower vehicle.

"She was smart. She was funny," said Veronica Garcia, Vanessa's sister. "She liked her rock music of course, it was all I would hear."

Veronica will remember her sister as the bright young girl who wanted to go to college and be a police officer.

Bertrand is like a lot of streets on the north side. There are no sidewalks. There are few street lights and deputies say many, many accidents.

"As she is walking eastbound, there are two vehicles traveling westbound in the westbound lanes," said Phillip Lillibridge with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "One of those vehicles went to pass the slower vehicle and as he passed the slower vehicle, he struck the pedestrian that was walking in the middle of the roadway."

Lillibridge is no stranger to these streets. He says there are dozens of kids walking in the early morning hours on unimproved streets.

A cross now marks where Vanessa was struck is now another reminder of the danger some Harris County children face just trying to get to school.