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had trouble with the link. here's the story:
Sarah Emily Channick, freshman in LAS, died Thursday evening resulting from a collision with an MTD bus, which was on the 22 Illini route, at the intersection of Sixth Street and Chalmers Street.
Eyewitnesses said Channick, a Deerfield, Ill., native, was trying to cross the street on foot. The intersection, a four-way stop, is marked with two faded white crosswalk lines.
"I was a block away, and I saw the bus turning left onto Sixth," said Meghan Fitzgerald, sophomore in ACES. "I saw the bus stop and a bunch of commotion. Legs were hanging out from under the bus, and it was nauseating."
Lt. Gary Goula of the Champaign Fire Department said the bus driver and Channick were taken to Carle Hospital. Susan Zercher, a house officer at Carle, confirmed that Channick had passed away. The coroner did not return phone calls to confirm the time or cause of death. Officials did not release the name of the bus driver or the driver's condition.
Her father, Robert Channick, said during a phone interview "she was a wonderful kid who was very happy to be at (the University)." He added that she was thinking of going into marketing.
"She was just interested in meeting new people and exploring her options," he said. "She was blossoming."
Her family could be heard sobbing in the background during the phone interview.
Channick was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority house. Andrea Valencia, junior in LAS and president of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, said in a telephone interview "all the girls will truly miss her" and that the house was going through a very rough time. Weeping could be heard over the telephone from others.
Neither MTD nor the University would comment. Champaign police will release a statement this morning regarding the accident.
my heart goes out to her family and sisters.
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