Family of 3-year-old struck on State Street shares update, calls for change

Two weeks after 3-year-old Ava Stephenson was struck by a vehicle while crossing State Street in Santa Barbara, her family remains by her side in Los Angeles, where she is receiving specialized medical care.

While Ava’s parents, Jessica and Rob Stephenson, have shared that there have been some encouraging signs in her recovery, they have chosen not to publicly disclose her prognosis or the extent of her injuries.

What they are willing to share completely is their appreciation for the local response.

“The community has been incredible,” Jessica Stephenson said in an interview with the News-Press. “The community is outstanding. We are being well supported.”

Ava was walking with family members in a marked crosswalk on upper State Street when she was hit by a vehicle. Santa Barbara police responded to the collision in the 3000 block of the street at 9:54 am, on Sunday, Oct. 18.

First responders provided emergency medical treatment at the scene before transporting Ava to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. She was subsequently airlifted to Los Angeles for specialized care.

Two people were inside the vehicle, neither of whom was injured.

The investigation into the collision is ongoing, according to the Santa Barbara Police Department.

Cmdr. Nathan Beltran confirmed that there have been no arrests and that drugs and alcohol were not believed to have contributed to the collision.

Due to the active nature of the investigation, Beltran declined to share more details about the crash.

Police are also seeking additional witnesses and video footage that could help investigators determine the circumstances of the crash. 

“The department remains interested in obtaining any information or evidence that may assist investigators with the investigation,” Beltran said.

Her father was present at the time of the collision, according to a public statement from  FlowYoga, a local yoga studio where Rob Stephenson teaches. 

The family’s circumstances have prompted an outpouring of grief from friends, neighbors and strangers.

Both Jessica and Rob are self-employed and do not have paid leave available while they remain in Los Angeles for Ava’s treatment.

A GoFundMe fundraiser organized by Ava’s paternal aunt, Julie Stephenson, had raised nearly $150,000. The donations are meant to assist the family in covering household expenses, travel, and other costs while they are unable to work.

For Jessica Stephenson, the attention has also created an unfamiliar challenge: deciding how much of her daughter’s experience should become part of the public record.

She said she wants to be mindful of Ava’s future, saying a child this young cannot yet consent to the details surrounding her injuries and medical treatment being made public.

She’d prefer to keep those details private, along with much of the family’s personal experience over the past nine days.

She said she is “more interested in using our story and experience for greater good.”

For Stephenson, that means drawing attention to pedestrian safety throughout Santa Barbara and Goleta – an issue she had been working on well before her daughter’s accident.

As a member of the PTA board at Hollister Elementary School in Goleta, Stephenson had already been involved in discussions about traffic patterns and safety around the growing campus.

“I was literally in a PTA, I want to say two or three weeks ago, where this was the biggest issue,” Stephenson said.

Initially, her focus was on Hollister Elementary, where growing enrollment brought community concerns surrounding the flow of traffic and how students and families can move safely around campus.

Then – just weeks following those discussions – her own daughter was struck while crossing State Street in a marked crosswalk.

“There’s a larger conversation to be had here,” Stephenson said.

With the experience of her family now gaining nationwide attention, she has recognized an opportunity to advocate for something bigger. 

“We know we have distracted drivers on the road. We know that we have distracted walkers and bikers and pedestrians, and I think we’ve all just kind of normalized it – that culture,” Stephenson said.

It’s a culture she hopes her daughters’ experience can help change.

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