School zone safety at issue in Palm Bay after 2 kids, 1 adult struck

Palm Bay students, families and city leaders are just a week into the school year, but they're already wrestling with school zone traffic safety, an issue that cast a dark cloud across the previous school year. 

Snaking through the parking lot to pick up their kids Thursday at Discovery Elementary School in Palm Bay, a handful of parents in the car loop chatted and texted on their cellphones — just hours after a student was hit by a car on his way to school.

Palm Bay police said the 12-year-old boy was crossing the street on his bike around 7 a.m. when an SUV slammed into him, throwing him onto the hood of the car and hurling him into the street. 

"(The child) is in the hospital with minor injuries," said Lt. Mike Bandish, Palm Bay police spokesman.

Christopher Harris, the 30-year-old motorist accused in the crash, has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injury and driving while his license was suspended. 

Police found him and his gray Grand Cherokee with a broken headlight at a house near Emerson Drive and Glencove Avenue, where the crash occurred. 

Police took him into custody late Thursday morning; he was being held at the Brevard County Detention Center in Sharpes in lieu of $15,500 bail. 

That same morning, and minutes apart, a father and his 5-year-old son were hit by a car while using the crosswalk to get to Odyssey Charter School, about 10 miles away in Palm Bay. They both suffered minor injuries. The driver, whose name was not released by police Thursday, stayed at the scene and was charged with failing to yield to a person in a crosswalk. Crossing guards don't start duty until 7:30 a.m.

The crashes are the latest in a string of near-misses and fatal crashes involving students at Palm Bay schools.

Most recently, 10-year-old Ander Grooms from Odyssey was hit and killed while riding his bike home from school in April. In January, 17-year-old Jasmine Monari was killed while walking home from Heritage High School.

And in May, an 8-year-old boy from Discovery barely jumped out of the way of an oncoming car as his bicycle was crushed underneath. 

Safety an issue

Once again, parents are asking why more hasn't been done to keep their kids safe.

"The city hasn't taken this problem seriously," said Randy Wickens, whose children attend Odyssey. "I don’t know how many kids need to be hit for them to do something about it."

Wickens has spoken to city staff multiple times about installing better signs at his sons' school, and after Ander Grooms' death joined other parents demanding change. Still, he watches drivers zoom past Odyssey's elementary campus every day when he walks his kids to school.

About a week before school started, the city installed a more aggressive school zone sign, lowering the speed limit from 25 mph to 20 mph. However, nearby schools have flashing yellow lights on their signs and Odyssey does not. 

"We still don’t have flashing lights; we still don’t have crossing guards," Wickens said. "That’s something that should have been addressed four months ago."

Odyssey founder Constance Ortiz said the school has two staff members trained in the Florida Department of Education's crossing guard program who are certified to train others. The school has also implemented staggered dismissal times so fewer students are outside for pick-up.

She said Odyssey will be getting two crossing guards from the city, and flashing lights have been ordered for the existing sign.

"We have been asking for this for 10 years — longer than 10 years," Ortiz said.

The city or county where a road is located — not the school district — is responsible for signs and crosswalks around school properties. 

Councilman Tres Holton said there are about 30 signs around the city reminding drivers not to text and drive.

The city is working to hire more crossing guards, but is having trouble attracting applicants, he said. Holton admitted he was disappointed changes have moved slowly since Grooms' death.

"While I am happy with our past and current public safety chiefs in responding to this issue, I am NOT happy with the time it has taken to get signage and disappointed in failure to recruit school crossing guards," he wrote in a message to Florida Today. "Not acceptable, period!"

The Palm Bay Police Department has increased its presence at schools.

"We regularly have officers at the schools," Bandish said. "We have detectives out doing crossing guard duty while the new crossing guards are being trained." 

Holton said the "real danger" is drivers and pedestrians who aren't paying attention.

That was apparent in the pick-up line at Odyssey Thursday afternoon. Parents frequently glanced down at their phones while behind the wheel.

"You can put up all the signs you want, but if they're on the phone looking down in their car and they don't see it, it doesn't do any good," said Kim Smith, coordinator of the county's Transportation Planning Organization's bicycle/pedestrian education program.

Staff writer Lamaur Stancil contributed to this report. 

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