Accident victim remains critical
What should have been a joyful day for an 11-year-old Uniontown boy turned tragic when he was struck and critically injured by a vehicle while walking home from a basketball game. As of Thursday night, Kadeem Dale Chisler of 207 Coolspring St. remained in critical condition and on life support in Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. According to city police, Kadeem was with two other children when a vehicle on Connellsville Street driven by Abbra Glagola, 18, of 177 Volek Rd., Smithfield struck him. The accident occurred at the intersection of John Street near LaFayette School at 9:53 p.m. on Monday.
“He fussed at me all day long to let him go to the basketball game saying that he was old enough to go,” said Chisler’s mother, Audra Chisler Fitzgerald. “I didn’t even get to hear who won the game.”
Investigating Officer David Basile said no charges are pending against Glagola. He said she had a green light and she didn’t appear to be speeding.
“It appears to be an accident,” he said. “(Kadeem) just ran right out in front of her and she didn’t see him.”
Ironically, the day Kadeem was injured, memorial Bibles predominately featuring his picture on the cover arrived. The Bibles were funded through the Scott Gnagey Memorial Bible Fund. Scott Gnagey died in a car accident years ago at the age of 15. Nancy and Jim Gnagey, the parents of Scott Gnagey, paid to distribute the Bibles as a memorial to their son.
The Bibles will be distributed to each camper at three United Methodist camps in western Pennsylvania this summer, one of which Kadeem attended last year. Nancy Gnagey was Kadeem’s prayer partner in the two years he attended the After School Kids program at Calvary United Methodist Church in Uniontown.
Tina Whitehead, the wife Calvary United Methodist Church pastor, Tom Whitehead, said Nancy Gnagey took an active interest in Kadeem and got to know him over the two years he attended the program.
Whitehead said this is the first year that pictures are included on the front of the Bibles. She said the Gnageys have been generously giving to the camp Bible fund for three years. In a letter for a church publication, Whitehead wrote that the tragic story, which touches two families, the camping program and a local congregation “gives witness to God’s awesome and caring presence in our lives in ways in which we will never be able to comprehend.”
The pictures on the cover of the Bible were randomly selected by the American Bible Society and included kids from each of the three camps including Jumonville in Fayette County, Wesley Woods in Erie and Camp Allegheny in Somerset. Whitehead said Kadeem didn’t get to see the cover, but he “responded with an infectious grim and an awesome ‘cool’.”
Whitehead said Kadeem and his brother Chris were her “connections in the community” when they started the after school program at her church two years ago. She said the brothers were able to get 26 kids at the church on the first day. After that, the boys started attending Sunday school, Whitehead said.
A friend to the boys, Whitehead has a photo album that includes numerous pictures of the boys. She said they would come to her house and use her computer and they went to see movies and did other activities. She said Kadeem was looking forward to camp this year and he had a goal of eventually playing football.
“He was a very sweet spirit and gentle kid,” she said.
According to Kadeem’s mother, who has practically been living at Children’s Hospital since the accident, Kadeem liked camping and Jumonville was his “favorite place.”
A single mother, she has five boys with Kadeem being the oldest.
Fitzgerald said Kadeem was a good boy who liked camping and hot sauce and had a lot of friends. Kadeem’s grandmother, Linda Odum, said Audra is her oldest daughter and Kadeem is her oldest grandchild.
Kadeem’s four younger brothers include: Christopher Leon, 10, Ramal Oliver, 8, Marqueal Duane, 7, and Amar Daeshawn, 4.
A distraught Fitzgerald, who is the sole support for her five sons, said she was thankful to everybody, including Kadeem’s best friend Charles, for their support and love. She said her son, who was in fourth grade at LaFayette School, was a respectful child.
Fitzgerald said she is sad but feels no hatred toward the driver of the car that hit her son. But she had a plea for everyone traveling around children. “When you’re driving, think about the kids,” she said.
At LaFayette School, Kadeem’s teacher was given one of the first copies of the memorial Bible. Dr. William Dickinson, principal of LaFayette School, said Kadeem was a very good student and “well liked by everybody.”
Dickinson, who had seen the cover of the Bible, said it was a “sad but touching tribute.” In the picture, Kadeem is grinning from ear to ear. “Seeing him smile is the way as a principal that I remember him. He always had a smile,” Dickinson said.
Odum, who worked with Whitehead to set up a fund for Kadeem, said her daughter has been through too much and she just wants her to concentrate on her family. She said the prognosis does not look promising for Kadeem.
In going between the hospital and home and feeding the other children, Odum said she has spent $300 in a few days on items such as parking, gas and food.
“Financially, she’s devastated,” Odum said. “It’s difficult and she I know has no provisions for a funeral.”
Anyone wishing to send donations to help with medical and other bills for Kadeem Chisler should send them to the Calvary United Methodist Church, 34 Clark St., Uniontown, Pa. 15401.