Niki Taylor Update

By Stephen M. Silverman

Originally posted Tuesday March 31, 1998 12:00 AM EST

In an update on the condition of supermodel Niki Taylor, who was critically injured in an automobile crash Sunday at 3 a.m. in Atlanta, her physician Dr. Jeffrey Nichols said on ABC's "Good Morning America" Wednesday that Taylor, 26, "lost extensive amounts of blood" and is still in intensive care. He said that her injuries "were life-threatening and remain that way." He expects that it will be weeks before he knows whether or not she will fully recover. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the accident occurred when Taylor's friend, James Renegar, 27, who was driving, looked down at his ringing cell phone and lost control of his 1993 Nissan Maxima, police said. The car ran off the road and hit a utility pole. "We're just friends out having a good time," John Lack, a passenger in the car with Taylor, told Atlanta's WAGA-TV. "We were coming back to my place. It was just a bad accident." Taylor's older sister, Joelle Bolline, said on "GMA" that Taylor has opened her eyes, nodded and squeezed relatives' hands since the accident. But she is not yet able to speak.