NORTHAMPTON - The 15-year-old girl who was critically injured after she was struck by a pickup truck on Jackson Street Monday is still in the pediatric intensive care unit at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, but her mother says she believes her daughter will recover completely.

In an interview at the Gazette Wednesday, Jill Griffin said her daughter, Sophie Gerstle, suffered a skull fracture, a liver laceration and a fractured femur in the accident.

Sophie Gerstle and a friend, Carley Zucco, 14, were hit by the truck while crossing Jackson Street about 4:45 p.m. Monday. The girls were on their way to Sophie's home on Taylor Street, a side street off the west side of Jackson Street.

Zucco, who police said suffered fractured ribs and a lacerated scalp, was also taken to Baystate, where she was treated and released Monday night. Her parents declined requests for an interview Wednesday.

Police said the truck was driven by Norman Menard, 54, of Garfield Avenue, Florence. No charges had been filed Wednesday and the accident is still under investigation, police said. When a Gazette reporter called Menard's residence Wednesday evening, the male who answered immediately hung up the phone.

Jill Griffin said her daughter regained consciousness Tuesday, the day after the accident, but her head injury is still causing her confusion and loss of memory.

"She doesn't know people by name," said Gerstle. "She thought George Bush was president."

Griffin, who is an emergency room doctor at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, said doctors told her it could be days or weeks before her daughter's memory is completely restored.

"We're going to take it a day at a time and wait for her head to clear," she said.

She said Sophie has undergone an operation to insert a rod in her broken femur and is wearing a neck brace.

Griffin said the accident happened when her daughter and Zucco were returning home from downtown, where they had gone to get a pizza and frozen yogurt.

She said the girls crossed the street a short distance north of the intersection of Prospect and Jackson streets. There is no traffic light at the intersection, no crosswalk and no sidewalks on the west side of Jackson Street, so crossing the busy street can be dangerous, said Griffin.

"I'm worried about that," she said, especially because it is a regular route for Jackson Street students who walk to school. There are speed bumps on a section of the road close to Jackson Street School.

She said both girls have no clear recollection of the accident.

Griffin was at home when the accident occurred and was on the scene shortly after the ambulance arrived. She praised the response by emergency personnel.

Griffin said she decided to speak up about her daughter's condition because she wanted to "put people's minds to rest."

"She's going to be OK," she said.

In the meantime, Griffin said students at Northampton High School, where both girls are in the ninth grade, have set up a Facebook page called "Healing Thoughts for Sophie."