Arrest made in hit-run that injured college students

A 30-year-old Town of Tonawanda woman has been charged with leaving the scene of a serious injury accident, a felony, in connection with last weekend's hit-and-run accident near Daemen College that left two young women seriously injured.

The Amherst police Accident Investigation Unit also charged Andrea L. Glinski with failure to use due care with regards to a pedestrian.

The arrest was made late Thursday night, after police learned that a collision shop in Hamburg had ordered parts for a 2003 black Jeep Liberty.

One of the victims, Amy E. Stewart, 22, a University at Buffalo graduate student from Grand Island, remained in a coma Thursday. She was listed in critical but stable condition in Erie County Medical Center’s trauma intensive- care unit.

Her friend, Rachel E. Baird, 21, a Daemen senior from East Syracuse, was in fair condition in ECMC.

The accident occurred about 1:40 a.m. Saturday.

Police said a westbound vehicle on Main Street near Campus Drive hit Stewart and Baird, friends from when Stewart was a student at Daemen, as the young women were crossing from the south side of the street to the north.

The students were believed to be in or near the crosswalk, on the westbound side of Main Street, when they were struck. Police said the vehicle stopped momentarily after the accident, but then kept heading west.

Investigators were able to review video taken from area surveillance cameras. The police don’t have any footage of the actual accident, McKenna said, but they did have video taken at nearby locations. “We’re trying to enhance the video to see if we can get anything off it.”

On Thursday, Stewart’s father said he was heartened to hear that police had a lead in the case.

Amy Stewart suffered serious head injuries.

“There’s no change,” Robert Stewart said Thursday afternoon. “She’s still in a coma. It’s going to be a long, long, long haul.”

Stewart’s father said that Baird was able to visit his daughter for the first time since the accident Thursday.

“She had special permission so she could see Amy,” Robert Stewart said. “They wheeled her down [in a wheelchair]. They got to see each other.”

The Stewarts are focusing all of their attention and energy on their daughter’s recovery and they continue to be amazed at the outpouring of support from their friends and the community.

Children from Glendale Elementary, where Amy Stewart is a reading aide, have sent dozens of handwritten cards to her.

“My wife reads them to [Amy] every day, so she knows they are asking for her,” Robert Stewart said.

Also, a special Mass will be offered for Stewart at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in St. Stephen Catholic Church, 2100 Baseline Road, Grand Island.

News Staff Reporter Dale Anderson contributed to this report.