Oakland Intersection: Beauty queen returns to site of 4- and 6-year-old crash

Two boys, aged 4 and 6, struck Kiara Bowling at high speed in August. The children took their parents' car keys while the adults slept, then drove to an Oakland intersection. One steered while the other worked the pedals. They sideswiped another vehicle before slamming into Bowling, who was walking her friend's dog, and crashed into a home's fence.

Bowling, 32, returned to that specific intersection this week. She is the 2026 Ms. California Regency International. Before the crash, she was finishing her final semester at California State University, East Bay, with plans to pursue law. The impact left her unconscious on the pavement. She suffered multiple brain bleeds, a traumatic brain injury, and facial fractures. The dog, Grizzly, was thrown by the collision but survived.

The severe brain trauma erased Bowling's memory of the event. She has no recollection of the crash or the immediate aftermath. "I really don't have recollection until the middle of September. In the hospital, my doctors had to let me know what happened," she said. She spent months in critical care, relearning how to walk, talk, and eat. Doctors estimate her full recovery could take up to two years.

Lavelle Shah-Marquis, a bystander who assisted Bowling that morning, described the force of the impact via FaceTime. "You didn't have enough time to even get out the way," Shah-Marquis said. "The car came so fast behind you and hit you and the dog. You went flying and you landed right where you were and that was pretty much it. Then you went unconscious."

Bystanders rushed to keep Bowling alive while paramedics were en route. Rita Macina, one of the good Samaritans, performed CPR. "I told her: 'You are going to be OK,' and then a tear came out. I think sometimes people forget that they need to hear people, and everybody is trying to do things, and I said, 'She can hear us,'" Macina said. Several of these helpers, including Macina, embraced Bowling during her return visit.

Bowling said she feels blessed to still be able to walk. "It feels good that I survived this, because this looks like a situation where an incident happened that was very traumatic and probably didn't have any survivors," she said. She confirmed she harbors no bitterness toward the young children. When asked if she has forgiven them, Bowling answered: "Yes, I do forgive them."

The crash occurred in August. Bowling visited the scene in early November. She was in critical care for months following the accident. The children were 4 and 6 years old at the time of the crash. Bowling was 32 years old. Grizzly, the dog, survived the collision. Bowling's recovery period is estimated at up to two years.