Girl hit near school still in coma; dad wants crosswalk
The girl who was struck while crossing a highway near a Paulding County school Monday still lay in a medically induced coma at a hospital Wednesday, and her father was calling for a crosswalk and other safety improvements before another child is hurt.
"They had to remove about a third of her skull because her brain is swelling," said Nadia Sutton's father, Ray McCreary. She was airlifted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite soon after the incident, which occurred on the south side of Ga. 61 at about 3:45 p.m., according to police.
McCreary said it's "ridiculous" that children must cross the highway to get to and from Paulding County High School. Nadia, 13, does not attend there. But her older brother does, and she had slipped out of the house to visit him and a friend, her father said.
A woman driving a Nissan Maxima hit her and flung her into the windshield, and McCreary said his daughter was still in critical condition Wednesday, with contusions to her brain, a broken foot and maybe a broken pinky.
Nadia's 15-year-old brother and several other teens walk to the school because they live too close for a bus.
"There's not a crosswalk, there's not a sidewalk and the speed limit is 55 mph," McCreary said of the road, which is also known as Villa Rica Highway. "There really is no safe place at all for them to cross." He said he's seen children massing beside the street then "darting" across when there's a break in the traffic.
The Georgia Department of Transportation studies the need for roadway improvements when it gets a complaint from a citizen or local government or when a fatality or serious injury occurs, agency officials said.
Harry Maddox, the DOT district traffic engineer for Paulding and 16 other counties, told the AJC that he would look into this stretch of roadway. An engineer will review traffic volume and check speeds with radar, then send the information to headquarters in Atlanta, he said. That will take only a few weeks, but the rest of the process -- deciding whether to pay for improvements and doing the actual construction -- takes much longer.
"A normal project might take several years," he said, adding that things go faster if the local government gets involved.
Messages left with Paulding County officials were not immediately returned, but a school system official said there have been no crashes or pedestrian injuries in front of the school as far back as he checked, which was four years.
The official, Brian Otott, an associate superintendent, said a sheriff's deputy directs traffic and pedestrians before and after school. He said the crossing at Paulding High is safe, but added that the school system did ask the DOT to place a crosswalk there earlier this year -- before Nadia was hit -- because of the growing number of children walking to the school.
"Would we like to have crosswalks -- certainly," he said.
The Georgia State Patrol said Nadia "darted" into the road when she was hit, but McCreary disputed that account. The parent of one of Nadia's friends witnessed the incident: Nadia was chatting on her cell phone when the parent, who was driving on the other side of the street, stopped and called to her. McCreary said the woman wanted to find out why Nadia was out on the street alone at that hour.
The girl was holding the phone in her left hand, her father said, so she might have been unable to see what was coming to her left when, smiling at her friend's mother, she put one foot into the road. He said she "lunged" forward and was hit.
McCreary said his daughter might be home safe now had there been a crosswalk or traffic light.
"We want to get this rectified so other people don't have to go through this," he said.
The Georgia State Patrol said Monday that the driver in the incident would not be charged. Wednesday, the GSP said the investigation is ongoing.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
