BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) President Donald Trump highlighted a Bakersfield girl injured in a 2024 crash during his second State of the Union address, drawing applause in the chamber as she attended with her father.
“Dalilah Coleman was only five years old in June 2024 when an eighteen-wheeler tractor trailer plowed into her stopped car at sixty mile an hour or more,” Trump said, referring to a six-vehicle crash in the Mojave Desert in 2024 in which Dalilah was pinned in the back seat.
Dalilah suffered a broken femur and a fractured skull, and doctors removed part of her skull to relieve swelling caused by pressure building in her bruised brain.
Trump honors Bakersfield crash survivor Dalilah Coleman in State of the Union address (CBS Newspath)
“The driver was an illegal alien let in by Joe Biden and given a commercial driver’s license by open borders politicians in California,” Trump said.
Dalilah attended the address accompanied by her father, Marcus Coleman, who said the moment was unexpected.
“It was surreal to be honest with you. It was something that – it wasn’t really expected. I wasn’t sure what people’s reaction was going to be,” Marcus Coleman said.
Coleman said he was surprised that some people in the room did not stand when his daughter was mentioned.
“I don’t understand how or why that is. At the end of the day, you know, she’s seven years old now, five years old at the time. It’s not like she had a choice on what president she wanted or anything like that,” he said.
Trump honors Bakersfield crash survivor Dalilah Coleman in State of the Union address (KBAK/KBFX)
Coleman said his daughter’s recovery has continued to exceed expectations.
“They didn’t think that she was going to make it. So, when she made it, they didn’t think she was going to be out of a vegetative state. So, when she was out of the vegetative state they didn’t think she was going to be able to walk. Then when she started to walk. It was just always ‘we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.
Coleman said he is not against immigration, noting his wife is a legal resident from Mexico, but he does not want similar crashes to happen again.
Trump honors Bakersfield crash survivor Dalilah Coleman in State of the Union address (CBS Newspath)
“We’re against people operating the vehicles that shouldn’t be operating the vehicles. If you can’t understand basic English, you can’t understand basic road signs then you shouldn’t be operating a vehicle here,” he said.