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Accident takes life of teen
March 13, 2005
- Brampton Guardian
She played drums in the school band, was a peer mentor, an aspiring teacher and a straight-A student. Cierra McInnes was 'destined for great things', but two days after her 14th birthday, she was hit and killed by a cube van on her way home from school.
She was crossing Queen Street E. at West Drive at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police, heading north toward her home, four blocks away. The van was turning right off West onto Queen. Cierra was alone and was crossing on the east side of the intersection. Peel police are asking for witnesses and are still investigating.
The Grade 8 student's death has hit her family and her friends hard.
"You drop your daughter off at the bus stop, you say you love her, have a nice day at school, and she just doesn't come home," her grieving mom, Cara Epp, said Friday from the family's Livery Way home.
Cierra was known and loved by many, her mom said, especially her friends and classmates at Beatty-Fleming Senior Public School.
"She was just so special. She was my good friend, she was a loving daughter and a loving sister. She really made a difference in people's lives," Epp said.
Math and English were her favourite subjects, and she wanted to be a teacher. She loved the school and was very active in school life. She was involved in the student council, played soccer, and on Friday's she was at school at 7 a.m., volunteering as the scorekeeper for the school hockey team.
"She volunteered for everything," Epp said. "She helped out. That's just how she was. She was a leader."
She was "14 going on 30" sometimes, her mom said. The family was sick with the flu two weeks ago, and Cierra took care of them, cleaning the house and looking after her young brother and sister.
Cierra was very responsible, and her mother never worried about her crossing the street.
Epp said she took the day off Thursday from her public relations job to register Cierra for high school. She stopped to pick up food for dinner, but when she arrived home and Cierra wasn't there, she was immediately worried, calling her friends and asking if they knew where she was.
"It wasn't like her (to be late)," she said. Her step-dad, Jason, went out looking for her, and he and her mom arrived at the scene of the crash.
"They didn't tell us until we got to the hospital," Epp said.
The Peel District School Board's Critical Incident Response Team was at the school all day Friday, offering students and teachers counselling. A memorial table was set up in the school, and students were writing poems and letters in memory of Cierra.
"It's very sad at the school today," said Sylvia Link, board spokesperson. "They will be planning a memorial service after March Break as a celebration of Cierra's life."
She will also be recognized at the Grade 8 graduation and the students will be involved in those plans, Link said.
Cierra's dad lives in the United States and was on his way to Brampton after receiving the news.
Just two weeks earlier, her teacher said she didn't know what she would do without her, Epp said.
Cierra was graduating this June and was excited about starting high school at North Park Secondary School in the fall.
"She (her teacher) said she was destined for great things," Epp said.
She spent a lot of time hanging out with her friends, but she made time for sister Reghan Epp, 2, and Max, 19 months.
"He (Max) is going to miss her a lot," Epp said. "He was asking for her this morning. He always knocked on her bedroom door."
Cici was her nickname. Her brother, Kevin McInnes, 15, couldn't pronounce her name when they were young, so he called her Cici, and it stuck.
Her friends gathered at the family's home just last Saturday for her birthday party.
"They had cake, they played air hockey, watched movies," her mom said.
Cierra loved music, too, and her mother remembers putting music on and "she and I and the babies would dance."
Cierra had a lot of friends, including Scott, her boyfriend of six months.
Her family isn't planning to have a funeral because they know, from recent comments she made at a funeral home for the death of a friend's father, she did not want one.
"We are going to do something with the school, some sort of donation to the school in her memory, in lieu of flowers," Epp said.
Smiling and full of life-- that is how she will remember her daughter-- with blonde hair, a big smile, a beautiful girl, inside and out.
The police investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Major Collision Bureau, 905-453-3311, ext. 3710.
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