
Jennifer Alcani was only 13 years old. On January 9, late at night, she had left home secretly from her parents to spend the evening with two older friends at McDonald's.
At around 5am on Friday morning, her mother, who had no idea and trusted her to sleep in her room, received the news that any parent would want to avoid: her daughter was in hospital, having suffered an accident in Abbadia Lariana. Jennifer died on 16 January at the Manzoni hospital in Lecco, after six days in a coma, never regaining consciousness. On Thursday afternoon, the doctors were forced to give up.
She was admitted to the Neuro-resuscitation ward, where she had been sent the morning after the collision that occurred on provincial 72. Her condition was serious from the beginning. Throughout the week, her friends, although they could not enter to see her, had gathered in front of the hospital, under her window.
The accident happened just before 5 a.m. on Friday, January 10, at the entrance to the tunnel that leads to State Road 36. The driver, a 22-year-old man, was traveling at more than 150 kilometers per hour and after exiting a small curve lost control of the powerful car, which ended up against a concrete guardrail. In the car with him, in addition to the driver, were two older friends, including Jennifer, who was sleeping in the back seat. The video clip posted on TikTok shows the final moments of this crazy race, where the friend is shown driving the car with the music at maximum. Jennifer had her seat belt fastened, but did not wake up after the collision, after suffering a severe head trauma and falling into an incurable coma.
Before the accident, Jennifer had spent the night with her friends drinking heavily. The car was driven by a 22-year-old friend of hers, while the other driver, a 19-year-old from Malgrate, had posted the video on TikTok. The latter had not yet obtained his license and was therefore driven by his older friend.
The two young men had bottles of alcohol in the car and, apart from that, there had been no other apparent problem. The 22-year-old driver, already investigated for serious road traffic injuries, now also risks a charge of manslaughter. Furthermore, after the collision he had tried to leave the emergency room to avoid a breathalyzer test.
Jennifer was enrolled in the first grade of the Stoppani school in Lecco, although she had attendance problems and had failed twice. She would have turned 14 in April./ Corriere della Sera