A woman shared a picture of her granddaughter’s final moments on social media just before the three-year-old’s tragic death.
According to heartbreaking accounts, Scarlett Jensen was killed in a hit-and-run on October 7, 2022. Her grandma was looking after her and her 2-year-old brother, Henry, while her father and mother, Samantha Jensen, were out of town for a wedding.
But when the three of them were walking in the Oldtown, Idaho, family’s private driveway, an unthinkable occurrence happened. A Chevy Tahoe speeding down the street ran over Scarlett, her brother, and her grandmother.
“My mother was yelling for him to stop and waving her hands,” said Samantha Jensen. He was rushing too quickly for her to grab my children and move them out of the way.
“My mother and Henry were seriously injured, and Scarlett passed away almost instantly.”
The guy who was driving the Chevy was apprehended a few miles away after escaping the scene on foot. He is presently serving a ten-year prison sentence.
After Henry was life-flighted to the children’s hospital, Samantha told PEOPLE, “they found a fractured spine, six broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken collarbone, a liver laceration, and several other injuries.”
“My mother was able to leave the hospital even though she had several broken bones.”
Before Henry was stable enough to return home, he spent a week in the PICU and wore a full body brace for ten weeks, she added.
In the weeks that followed, the family was overcome with grief, but Samantha found a seemingly innocuous snapshot her mother had snapped of Scarlett shortly before she died, which brought them some momentary relief.
Jensen says, “I was searching through photos when I came across that one.” “It took us some time to locate my mom’s phone after they were struck.” “I looked at the timestamp and saw that it was only five minutes before her stated time of death, so it must have been taken seconds before the person hit them.”
According to PEOPLE, the picture was taken after Scarlett’s grandmother took her two grandchildren out for ice cream.
“When they got home to our back driveway, Scarlett wanted to get out of the stroller to pick flowers,” Samantha explained.”The last picture I have of my mother alive at that time was taken by my mom.”
“My days now are different,” the devastated mother explained. The family is doing everything they can to cope with their tremendous loss, even though some people are naturally more resilient than others.
“There are days when I feel like I’m drowning, and other days when I can tread water,” she told others. “Everyone in my family is putting in a lot of effort in treatment and trying to become as well as they can. My trust in the Lord has saved my life and substantially improved my healing process.
At first, the grieving mother found it difficult to gaze at the final picture of her daughter. But two years after her passing, Samantha came to understand that the photo represents a lovely life.
“I am so grateful to have that picture,” she told PEOPLE. It captures the calm of her last moments and the beauty that around her as she sighed. I will always see her picking flowers with Meemaw and her best friend, happy and carefree.
I hope you find peace. Scarlett.
