High school student uses bilingual skills to help those injured in Waukesha Christmas parade tragedy

 

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- In the middle of tragedy, ordinary people stepped up to help any way they could after someone drove an SUV into participants of a Christmas parade, leaving several dead and dozens injured.

Xiomara Ciriaco is a student at Waukesha South High School and was attending the annual parade as part of a yearly tradition with her family when they witnessed the incident.

"It was like horrifying," Ciriaco told CBS 58. "Kids, adults and even families that were in the parade together, it was, it was crazy."

Xiomara's father posted a Facebook Livestream of the aftermath.

The family was in shock but after gathering themselves stepped in to help those who were injured on the ground.

Ciriaco said many who were among the injured were Hispanic and needing assistance for language interpretation with first responders.

Xiomara and her brothers are both bilingual and used their language skills to help.

"I did my best," Xiomara said. "I helped this one lady to interpret. I was in the ambulance with her and traveled with her to the hospital and I just stayed there until, like, 10 p.m. to help her translate everything that I could since there was a lot of people and there wasn't a lot of interpreters."

Ciriaco said the hospital she was taken to with the injured woman was Aurora Summit in Oconomowoc.

Her family said they are working on trying to raise funds for people injured, some of whom they know personally.