Local

Student severely hurt in early-morning crash in Stanly Co.

STANLY, N.C. — Troopers said charges are pending following a crash involving a student at North Stanly High School early Monday.
 
Troopers said 17-year-old Katelin Rush pulled out in front of a pickup truck driven by 19-year-old Justin Foster at the intersection of Highway 52 and Random Drive, not far from the high school.   Rush was on her way to school, and Foster had just dropped his younger sister off at the school.
 
Foster's mother Rhonda Simpson said her son is banged up, but OK.  She said he can't get the girl's face out of his mind.
 
"Just her expression, the look on her face when she pulled out.  It was awful," Simpson said.
 
The small Honda Rush was driving was crushed in the T-bone crash, which sent her to Carolinas Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
 
Simpson told Channel 9 she joins in the prayers of the community, and her heart goes out to the Rush family.
 
"If there's anything I can do, I mean, I'll do anything I can. I just couldn't imagine that family. My thoughts and prayers are with them," she said.
 
Rush apparently has several broken bones and a head injury.   The school superintendent said she is a junior at North Stanly High School, and counselors were on hand Monday to deal with students.