Police told a Nebraska father that his 18-year-old daughter had been killed in a car accident Memorial Day weekend, but he got the best news of his life when he learned the officer was mistaken.
Tesfaye Ailbe of Lincoln, Nebraska, said he had an uneasy feeling after agreeing to let his daughter, Hannah Wadiso, go out to watch a car race at around 7 p.m. May 29, KETV reported.
“My heart didn’t settle down. I simply followed them, went all the way to the Hy-Vee area, and walked around, and I didn’t see them, so I came home,” Ailbe said, according to the outlet.
Wadiso, who celebrated her high school graduation the day before, assured her father that she would be careful. Roughly four hours after Wadiso left the family home, Ailbe received a phone call from a stranger, KETV reported.
“Somebody helping her pulling her from under the car said, ‘I got this number. You don’t know me, but your daughter is in [an] accident and in bad shape, please reach her now,” Ailbe said, according to the outlet.
The worried father hurried to the scene, where he was informed by a police officer that his daughter had been killed in a car crash, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Crash On Highway Kills 9 People, Including Several University Of Southwest Athletes)
“Amen, hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, this is a chance.”@SarahFiliKETV has the story of how a Lincoln family’s prayers were answered after the crash on Memorial Day weekend: https://t.co/N5cShKLVFw pic.twitter.com/g7FFfFTrIz
— KETV NewsWatch 7 (@KETV) June 8, 2022
“On the road, we cried, fell down on our knees, prayed,” Ailbe said, according to KETV.
Those prayers were answered just a few hours later, the outlet reported, when Ailbe received a phone call informing him that the officer on scene had been mistaken: The girl was in the emergency room in serious condition, but was alive.
“The car ran over them and some people around them lifted the car up,” he said. Wadiso’s pelvis had been crushed in the accident, but after days in the hospital she is showing signs of recovery, KETV reported.
“Amen, hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, this is a chance,” Ailbe said, according to the outlet.
Lincoln police have stated that an 18-year-old Omaha man has since been arrested in connection with the crash, which left two people dead and injured 20 others. Police said the man had allegedly been driving nearly 90 miles per hour before the crash, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.