Child hit in Wisconsin parade now recovering at home for Thanksgiving

5 other dance team members remain in ICU

ByStephanie Haines, WTMJ

Friday, November 26, 2021

Child hit in Waukesha Christmas parade recovering at home for Thanksgiving

An 11-year-old girl injured in the Waukesha parade is at home recovering, but many of her dance teammates aren't as lucky.

WAUKESHA, Wis. -- An 11-year-old who was one of the dozens of people injured at the Waukesha Christmas parade last weekend is now at home recovering.

She was dancing in the parade when the driver of an SUV plowed into the crowd.

"She just loves dancing," said Ketzally Becerra-Montes.

Becerra-Montes said her little sister Yaretzi has been dancing in the Waukesha parade for years.

This past Sunday was normal, until that moment.

"It was like seconds after that we had just seen the start of her group, that the car went by," Becerra-Montes said.

Darrell Brooks, of Milwaukee, is charged in the Waukesha Christmas parade crash that left six dead and 61 others hurt.

Becerra-Montes ran out to find her sister.

"Where's Yaretzi? We don't know. I said, 'What do you mean you don't know? Do any of you know where Yaretzi is,'" Becerra-Montes recalled. "I saw a big group huddled around people and I was like, 'Who is that?' And it was my sister laying there. And it was next to two other girls and my sister's head was on top of one of the girl's legs and she was just looking up and she was like, 'What happened?'"

Yaretzi was taken to Children's Wisconsin in an ambulance.

Becerra-Montes said her mother tried to help some of the other girls first.

"My mom even told the ambulance when the paramedics and stuff came up, she was like, 'Don't look at my daughter right now, look at the other girls, they are a lot worse. They are in a lot worse condition,'" she said.

Five other girls on Yaretzi's team remain in ICU.

Despite suffering a concussion, lacerations and bruising, Yaretzi is now home recovering.

"She's like, 'I can't laugh right now,' she's like, 'It hurts,' or even just walking her entire bottom half is completely bruised," Becerra-Montes said.

Sitting at her sister's side, Becerra-Montes is helping her with puzzles, coloring books and watching "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movies. Anything to keep her mind off the horror she witnessed.

"I still hear me screaming for my mom and screaming for my sister," Becerra-Montes said.

Nearly a week after the deadly crash, Becerra-Montes said she thinks about how she could have lost her sister that day.

"Every day my mom and I always pray. Just every day we're constantly reminded this could have been so much worse, it could have been avoided if the guy was never in town," she said. "It's not his home city. Why was he in Waukesha? What is wrong with you? How could you do it so easily and just not seem like you care?"

Six people were killed in the incident and more than 60 others were injured.

The victims have been identified to the Waukesha Police Department as: