South Gate : Hit-Run Fatality Prompts Calls for Crosswalk Safety
A hit-and-run accident that claimed the life this week of an 11-year-old girl as she was going home from South Gate Junior High School has sparked demands from parents for more safety measures at the school’s crosswalks.
About a dozen parents showed up at Monday’s City Council meeting to urge officials to install traffic lights or hire crossing guards. The school is bordered by heavily traveled streets--Southern Avenue, Otis Street and Firestone Boulevard, said Marion Whiteford, former PTA president at the school.
Jazmin Olmos, a sixth grader at the school, was struck at 3:30 p.m. Monday as she was crossing Southern Avenue, Police Chief Ronald George said. The driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run, and was being held in jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.
Earlier this month, two seventh-grade girls were injured when they were struck by a car as they attempted to cross Otis Street.
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