Nothing prepared the silent cluster of television and newspaper reporters for Jennifer Flynn as she rose to the lectern yesterday at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. It was surprising enough that Ms. Flynn, the mother of 7-year-old Katie Flynn, wanted to speak publicly only two days after Katie was killed in an accident that the police say was caused by a drunken driver.

But then Ms. Flynn began her unsparing story, told from inside the limousine that she, her two daughters, husband and parents had been riding in, driven by Stan Rabinowitz, when a pickup truck slammed into the car. The family was returning home from the wedding of Ms. Flynn's sister in Bayville, N.Y. Mr. Rabinowitz was also killed, and as of Monday morning, Ms. Flynn was the only passenger released from hospital care.

The details Ms. Flynn calmly delivered were horrific.

"As I crawled out of the car, the only thing that was left of Kate was her head," said Ms. Flynn, 36, her voice cracking as her mother-in-law, who sat in the audience, began to sob. "And I took her, just that, and sat on the side of the Meadowbrook and watched at the horrendousness going on around me.

"I sat there for about an hour with her as they cut my entire family out of this crushed tin can," said Ms. Flynn, who lives in Lido Beach. "It was brutal, and I hope that it is as brutal for you all as it was for me. I want everybody to know that. I want everyone to feel our pain and know our sadness."