Courtney Easter, a Saint Louis University student, was listed in
serious condition Wednesday afternoon at SLU hospital, after
sustaining injuries in a car accident last Friday morning. Four
other SLU students were also injured in the one-car accident.
According to Jack Titone, director of the department of public
safety at SLU, the accident occurred about 8 a.m. on Grand
Boulevard between Enright Avenue and Delmar Boulevard.

Titone said that, according to reports from police, Easter was a
passenger in the vehicle. Students Michelle Dickson, Phylicia Woods
and Katrina Hill were also passengers. The driver of the car, Tracy
Randall, apparently fell asleep and lost control of the vehicle,
Titone said. The car then struck a traffic control box. When
paramedics responded to the scene, Easter had stopped breathing.
The paramedics revived her and rushed her to SLU hospital. The
others were taken to Barnes Jewish Hospital.

The St. Louis Police Department’s accident-reconstruction team
is investigating the accident, Titone said, but he added that
“There was no foul play or alcohol.” He said there were witnesses
from the Veteran Hospital’s shuttle service who said that the
vehicle was traveling at a normal speed before the accident.

Robert Phillips, S.J., associate director of campus ministry
spent most of last Friday at the hospital with Easter’s family and
has kept in touch with them since. Michael Doody, S.J. visited the
other students who had been admitted at Barnes, and all have since
been released. Petitions for prayer were offered for the students
at the 10 p.m. student mass on Sunday.

“The role of a Campus Minister is always to pray and to console,
to be a presence of faith in a situation of anguish and anxiety,
however one can do that…” Phillips said.