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3:27 p.m. • 5-23-12

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Troopers look for SUV after hit-and-run injures student


Teen Hit While Waiting for School Bus; Troopers Seek SUV
Teen Hit While Waiting for School Bus; Troopers Seek SUV
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State troopers were searching for the driver in a hit-and-run at a school bus stop that injured a 13-year-girl Thursday.

The morning was dark and foggy when Maria Ann Taylor set out to across the road to the bus stop at Lassiter Farms Lane and McLemore, investigators said. Then a dark-colored sport-utility vehicle struck her and kept going.

"Witnesses say the driver did not stop or slow down, just continued on," Trooper Daniel Sharpe said.

Several other students were also getting ready to cross the street and watched as their classmate was hit, troopers said.

Taylor suffered a broken leg and jaw, Sharpe said. She underwent surgery at WakeMed and was expected to recover.

Troopers said the SUV driver was clearly at fault. The school bus had come to a complete stop, its stop sign was out, and all its lights were flashing, Sharpe said.

Neighbors expressed concern that the intersection outside a subdivision is too busy to be a safe bus stop.

"I always make them stand back, because I'm scared someone is going to hit them," said Sharon Reese, who takes her elementary school children at the stop every morning. "I'm scared that it's going to happen to another child."

Administrators will try to move the bus stop inside the subdivision, said Billy Sugg, director of Johnston County Schools Transportation Services. He went to the scene and talked to parents Thursday.

Sugg said the subdivision's homeowners' association must give the school system permission before it can move the bus stop.

"I don't know why that bus would not come in here," Reese said.

Troopers are looking for a dark-colored Chevrolet Tahoe or a GMC Yukon sport-utility vehicle, made between 1992 and 1999. The SUV's passenger-side mirror fell off during the hit-and-run, and it could have front-end damage, troopers said.

Anyone who sees a vehicle matching the description, possibly around the Cleveland or Clayton area, should call authorities or dial *HP from a cell phone.

RELATED TOPICS: Johnston County, Clayton, Cleveland County


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I am so glad this little girl is okay. I do have to say though, I've thought about the teen driver thing since yesterday, and does anybody realize what time the accident was, and when school starts. I don't know about you guys, but I don't know too may teens that would be going to school a whole hour early. As a matter of fact, I don't know many teachers that would have been there an hour early. They start later than the middle school. And, I came through the stop, right as the bus was approaching, and the bus driver had the flashing lights on quite a distance before even getting to the stop. I slowed down to make sure the stop sign wasn't out, but they just had the flashing lights on. I'm hoping everyone will just let the police speculate on the driver and when they know, we'll know.

thank God this little girl will be alright...

west johnston high school parking lot would be the first place i'd start looking for this suv...

Old Reb, I am in doubt as to whether the police will even find the driver of this vehicle. Certainly justice does need to be meted out, but in this case it is all a matter of 'catch me if you can,' and at this moment in time I am more than a small bit cynical in regards to the great detective powers that be in this great state of ours. The location of this incident, Clayton, would lead me to believe that the perpetrator of the hit and run could be a government official, or at least a relative of one, which would make me expect that if the police did indeed 'detect' and finally acquire the perpetrator, that the said person would be released and the matter swept under the carpet, so to speak. This is North Carolina, a state rife with 'good ole boy' financial and political practices. But, maybe I will surprised in this matter as I have been in others in my life.

Thank God the little girl did not lose her life. She was extremely fortunate indeed. I sincerely hope that they will catch whomever did this to her and then spead off.

It takes a coward to leave a person lying hurt like this. Again, I pray that the young girl will be on the mend.

If something knocks off your side mirror while driving, you notice it, period. Unless, possibly, you're heavily intoxicated. Of course noticing it doesn't mean a person would actually stop. But hopefully someone else will notice a missing mirror where there was one yesterday. It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

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