DANBURY, Conn. -- A 17-year-old Connecticut girl died and another teenager was injured when they were struck by a car while crossing a street earlier this month.
Police say Rebecca Townsend of Brookfield died after the accident on July 2 near the Westside Campus of Western Connecticut State University, according to WTIC. She was a recent graduate of Immaculate High School in Danbury. Her friend Ben Arne, 17, of New Fairfield was seriously injured in the accident.
Almost my senior casual but the trees were too pretty not to share🍁
When Rebecca was a sophomore in high school, she wrote a bucket list as part of a class assignment, her sister Victoria told Buzzfeed. She wrote down three things: Kiss in the rain, fly to Spain, save a life (not really scary though).
Well, the Townsend family did take that trip to Spain and Rebecca kissed her boyfriend in the rain, said Victoria. So what about saving a life?
After Ben was released from the hospital, he visited the Townsend family and told them Rebecca did just that on that night.
“He said, ‘The last thing I remember is Rebecca pushing me and telling me to hurry up,’” Victoria said.
After her death, Victoria and some other family members were swapping stories when they discovered her bucket list. That's when they realized Rebecca fulfilled her wish by saving Ben.
"It was a little sign that she was okay," Victoria said. Now, their family has set up the Remembering Rebecca Facebook page and Instagram accounts to spread "Rebecca's overflowing kindness throughout the world."
“You got something so beautiful, and you got something so majestic to celebrate independence and at the same time you have a whole other light show of its own in a more catastrophic form, you know,” witness Avdi Rugova told FoxCT.
Police say a 23-year-old woman from Brookfield was driving the car that hit the teens. No charges have been announced. The accident remains under investigation.
