Porchia Hardy, a registered nurse and mother, raced to the side of a dying teenager on a Gainesville street Saturday night.
Hazel Krauss, 19, a freshman at the University of Florida, was crossing West University Avenue near campus at approximately 11:30 p.m. When a driver swerved to avoid another vehicle and struck her, police said. The collision left the Chicago native critically injured on the pavement as the weekend wound down.
Hardy happened upon the scene and immediately moved to assist the stricken student. The nurse later described her instincts taking over in the chaotic moment.
“I’m a mom, and a nurse, so my mom and nurse had kicked in, and I mean she was in good care,” Hardy told WCJB.
Despite Hardy’s intervention, Krauss was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead. The freshman’s death has rippled through multiple communities tied to her young life.
Krauss graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago before heading to Florida for her first year of college. The private Catholic school, known for its competitive athletics programs, counted her among its former volleyball standouts. Word of her death reached her hometown quickly, prompting an outpouring from those who knew her in Illinois.
The crash occurred on a stretch of West University Avenue that runs through the heart of Gainesville’s university district, an area heavily trafficked by students on weekend nights. Police have not announced charges against the driver involved in the incident.
Hardy’s presence at the scene meant Krauss did not die without someone fighting for her. The nurse’s dual identity as both caregiver and parent shaped her response to the tragedy unfolding before her.
The University of Florida community now confronts another loss of a young student to traffic violence on streets surrounding its campus. Krauss had been in Gainesville only since the start of the academic year, her college experience barely begun.
St. Ignatius College Prep officials and alumni networks have joined in mourning a graduate who had recently moved south to begin the next chapter of her life. The Chicago school’s volleyball program, where Krauss had competed, now remembers her as one of its own taken too soon.