Girl Paralyzed By Driver Has Jury in Tears Courtesy of Vasquez family
Jury in Tears Hearing Drunk Driving Victim’s Letter
Instead of playing outside with friends and shopping at the mall, 9-year-old Xitclalli Vasquez has been sentenced to life in a wheelchair thanks to the actions of a drunk driver in Ft. Worth, Texas.
At the recent court sentencing for Jeremy Solis, convicted of drunk driving, jurors were moved to tears when Vasquez read him a four page letter she had written entitled “From One of Your Victom.”
Even Solis, whose reckless actions caused the child to be paralyzed from the waist down as a result of a head-on collision he caused with the vehicle in which she was a passenger, had tears in his eyes by the time Vasquez was finished reading her letter.
The little girl recalled she had been headed to the mall for a hair styling and manicure on the fateful day of the accident, but remembers little else other than the grueling regimen in the hospital to help her heal as much as possible.
Vasquez asked Solis in her letter what he remembers about July 9, the day that transformed her life for the worse, and said she often cries because she can no longer do all of the things she used to do.
The four-page handwritten letter explained how Vasquez was going to the mall with her sister “to get my hair cut and my nails done.” That was all she could recall of the fateful day of the crash. ”I don’t remember the first several days. I could not talk, so I had to use my thumb to answer yes or no. While I was in UCLA I had very bad moments. They take xrays of me every day. Feed me through by gbutton. I had tubes through my mouth and nose.”
“There were times that I would cry and cry…in therapy they showed me how to lift myself and dress myself. But right now it’s still very hard. My mom does a lot for me but I try myself. There are days that I cry cause I can’t do what I used to. Well, I could keep going but my hand is getting tired. I would like you to meet me and my family…there are days that are bad because I have a hard time getting around. ”
“Look at what I said and the words I said and tell me how I look and feel. How do you feel today? Do you remember July 9th?”
Vasquez says she wants Solis to tell her he is sorry for what he did to her, but her ultimate dream is to walk again.
“I hope Jeremy would respond to my letter,” Chilli told ABC News. “It will make me happy if he says he is sorry,” she said. Chilli said she planned to send him more letters while he was serving his sentence and hoped he would respond.
