KANSAS CITY, Mo.-- Members of the Kansas City Art Institute are mourning the death of a 21-year-old student.
On Friday afternoon, July 20, Haley Elizabeth Hackett and her friend Arlan Engin were walking westbound on 43rd Street and were attempting to cross Main Street when a maroon SUV heading eastbound on 43rd Street made a left turn to go north on Main Street, striking both of them.
According to the institute, Engin has been released from the hospital, but on Tuesday evening Hackett passed away from her injuries with her family at her bedside.
"What happened is really unfortunate," said Midtown worker Mollie Johnson. "I look really closely whenever I walk through any intersections in Midtown."
Johnson and her co-worker, Jennifer Ivey, told 41 Action News the intersection where the fatality occurred can get dicey.
"There's a lot of pedestrian traffic and obviously there's a lot of vehicular traffic but it just depends on the time of day and who it is," Ivey said.
They take extreme caution whenever cars are turning.
"I do feel like cars don't look like when they're going to make turns even if the walk sign is on at the intersection," Johnson said.
On Wednesday, the president of the art institute, Tony Jones, sent a memo notifying members of the school of Hackett's passing.
Jones wrote that Hackett would have entered her senior year as a painting student this fall.
They plan to honor her in a number of ways.
The chair of the department has chosen a work by Hackett that will be installed in her memory in the painting studios.
KCAI also plans to dedicate its graduation ceremony next May to Hackett.
The young woman from California was also an organ donor. Her family told the institute "that in this way she will live on, already saving the lives of others."
The school plans to hold a private memorial Sunday night.
The driver of the maroon SUV did stay at the scene. A KCPD spokesperson said Thursday the driver did not get a ticket and that the case remains under investigation.
