Tribute to Injured Teen Erected at Accident Site

PORTER RANCH — Dozens of friends created an informal tribute Tuesday to a north Valley girl who was critically injured in a traffic accident.

Emily Pilkinton, 17, was the passenger in a car that slammed into a parked moving van Sunday evening on the Wilbur Avenue bridge over the 118 Freeway, according to LAPD Det. Ted White.

The girl driving the car, also 17, was not speeding, but balloons the girls were taking to a celebration may have obscured her vision, causing the accident, White said.

The crash sheared off a portion of the car’s roof, critically injuring Pilkinton.

Pilkinton, a junior at Granada Hills High School, was placed on life support at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills with internal injuries and a skull fracture, according to a hospital spokesperson.

The driver of the vehicle, whose name is being withheld by police because she is a minor, received cuts and bruises.

On Monday and Tuesday evenings, hundreds of people--mostly teens but also teachers and family members--came to the bridge to leaves flowers, poems, candles and cards. The crowd also put up 6-foot-long posters with handwritten messages to their friend, known as “the cowgirl” because she wears cowboy hats to parties and other events.

Among the messages were notes thanking her for being a best friend.

“She’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever known,” said 17-year-old Eitay Bicer. “She always had a smile, and she always made lots of friends. The accident has taught her friends to be close, to lean on each other and to be strong.”