Friends speak about UGA student who survived crash

CLARKE COUNTY, Ga. — As a community mourns the death of four University of Georgia students, Channel 2 Action News is gaining new insight into the young woman who survived the tragic crash.

A crash report released Friday says the car the five UGA students were in suddenly slid into the other lane, crashing with another car.

A sorority security guard told Channel 2 Action News the young women drove to Oconee County to take sunset pictures at an iconic sculpture.

Driver Agnes Kim is the only one who survived.

Kim is a Young Life leader who mentors teens in an Athens program called Wyldlife. She mentored two sisters, Lucia and Aida Bermudez.

“She makes you happy, just being around her,” said Lucia Bermudez.

“I pray for her every night,” said Aida Bermudez. “When I went to Wyldlife, Agnes was the first person to hug me, and she was smiling.”

Aida Bermudez was with Kim just three days before the car wreck that killed four of her friends and fellow classmates.

“We were playing games together and I was holding her hand and we were spinning in the circle playing this game,” Aida Bermudez said.

She was devastated to hear that Kim was the driver Wednesday night who veered into oncoming traffic.

Kim is now in critical condition at Athens Regional Medical Center.

“They're truly exemplary students, all of them, including Agnes,” said Maria Bermudez, the girls’ mother and a UGA professor.

Bermudez told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes that she is personally affected by this tragedy because Kayla Canedo and Brittany Feldman were in her human development class.

“I had 299 students in this class and they still stood out. I still remembered them, I knew who they were, I saw them in my office,” Bermudez said.

She said she had an exam scheduled for Friday, but canceled it after several of her grieving students asked her to reschedule.

“It’s symbolic of how we should be in times of crisis,” Bermudez said.

Police still don’t know what caused Kim to cross the center line Wednesday night. Investigators plan to return to the crash site Monday to reconstruct the accident.

Cox Media Group