Dec. 31--The mother of a Glenview teen killed in a car crash late Tuesday morning remembered her as a gifted and creative young woman.
Emma Pincus Hartman, 18, excelled at riding horses and at other creative pursuits, like writing, drawing and singing, said her mother, Laura Pincus Hartman. She also was "pained deeply" by injustice -- a trait her mother said sometimes got her into trouble at school.
"I just can't believe she's gone," said Laura Pincus Hartman, a DePaul University professor of business ethics.
Emma Beth Pincus Hartman had been driving east on the Indiana Toll Road in a 2004 Jeep Liberty at about 11:13 a.m. Tuesday, near the Illinois-Indiana state line, when she left the roadway and crossed over the median onto the westbound side of the road, Indiana State Police said. She was hit on the driver's side by a semi tractor-trailer in the far right westbound lane, according to police.
Hartman may have been texting or reading a text on her phone at the time of the incident, according to the police news release. She was pronounced dead on the scene.
The driver of the semi was not injured, police said.
Reached by phone on Tuesday night, Emma Pincus Hartman's mother said her daughter was a passionate young woman.
"It's really earth-shattering. Your earth opens up and you feel like you're in the middle of darkness," said Laura Pincus Hartman.
Emma Pincus Hartman, a former Glenbrook South High School student, had been attending a boarding school called Solstice East in Weaverville, North Carolina, her mother said.
Emma was the daughter of Laura Pincus Hartman and David Hartman, who are divorced, and sister of Rachel Hartman, a junior at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago.
Laura Pincus Hartman said her daughter was driving David Hartman's vehicle at the time of the crash and that neither parent knew where she was headed.
"I think she was driving to be free," she said.
The crash led to backups and another accident later Tuesday, at about 1 p.m., involving a Megabus and several other vehicles, according to state police. None of the Megabus passengers were injured, though two people in another vehicle were taken to a Gary, Ind., hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
All lanes on the roadway reopened about 3 p.m., authorities said
