School Crossing Guards Endure Risks, Abuse

As a school crossing guard, Patrick Finan has endured harsh obscenities, cold snubs and rude gestures from motorists.

But the worst insult came four months ago, when the 82-year-old retired construction worker was standing in the middle of Hazeltine Avenue in Van Nuys, stopping traffic to help a woman and two children cross the street.

An elderly man in a speeding sedan ran Finan down from behind, throwing him to the pavement. “The next thing I knew, I was on my back,” said Finan, who suffered a concussion and some painful bruises, cuts and scrapes.

After several weeks of recovery, he returned to don his bright orange vest, still a bit sore but committed to the job.

As Finan can attest, the job of crossing guard is dangerous work that often goes unappreciated by motorists. Yet Finan and his co-workers remain steadfast, putting themselves in harm’s way--literally--daily to protect schoolchildren from distracted and speeding drivers.

The risks are only expected to increase.

As traffic worsens in Southern California, police say motorists are more likely to speed and to ignore rules of the road to make up for time lost in the congestion. That behavior is even common around schools, where increased crowding only compounds the problem. A recent national survey found that nearly two-thirds of all motorists speed around school zones.

Too often, crossing guards are the only line of defense between schoolchildren and these speeding, frustrated motorists.

In Los Angeles, two crossing guards have been killed in the last two years, and several more throughout Southern California--like Finan--have suffered serious injuries on duty.

A tragic example of the dangers facing crossing guards was William Hooper, 60, who died in November 2000. A 17-year-old driver who sped through a crosswalk in North Hollywood hit the retired electrical draftsman from behind.

Earlier that year, crossing guard Margarita Garcia, 52, was seriously injured when an unlicensed teenage driver rolled through a crosswalk in Fullerton, hitting Garcia and knocking her onto the hood of the car.

And last year, co-workers and friends held a candlelight vigil after longtime crossing guard Menelva Faye Tippie, 48, was struck and killed by a stray bullet fired in an apparent gang confrontation near 116th Street Elementary School in South Los Angeles. Police have since arrested a suspect who has been charged in Tippie’s death.

Southern California officials could not provide an exact tally of the injuries and deaths suffered by local crossing guards, but the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 52 were injured on the job in California in 1999.

More often, crossing guards are narrowly missed by harried and preoccupied motorists who roll through crosswalks before guards and children can get to the curb.

“I had one lady who almost hit me say she didn’t see me,” said Dennis Phelps, a veteran crossing guard for the city of Los Angeles. “I said, ‘How can you miss me? I’m 6-foot-3 and I’m wearing a bright orange outfit.’ ”

The job has become so dangerous that the employees union that represents crossing guards in Los Angeles included a requirement in its latest contract that the city launch a television, radio and newspaper campaign warning motorists to watch out for them. The campaign should begin in about six months.

Crossing guards are routinely subjected to insults and profanity by drivers who blame the guards for lengthening to their already slow commutes.

“I’ve heard some pretty profane things,” said Phelps, a retired industrial photographer. “But what are you going to do, fight with them?”

Instead of giving him a wave or a salute, Finan said, motorists often acknowledge him with a rude gesture. He said he has learned to turn the other cheek.

Many of the confrontations come from misunderstandings. Because of liability concerns, crossing guards in Los Angeles are permitted to help only schoolchildren in kindergarten through fifth grade. Also, each guard is assigned to one street and prohibited from leaving that post to help children cross nearby streets.

Often parents get irate and abusive when they see crossing guards who onlookers think are shirking because they don’t help older children or senior citizens.

Such behavior toward crossing guards is not confined to Los Angeles. “That’s a constant problem with us,” said Linda Flores, who oversees Santa Ana’s crossing guards. People are abusive and confrontational, and the crossing guards cannot respond.”

Crossing guards are trained to ignore such abuse. “They kind of learn to deal with it and say, ‘Whatever,’ ” said Sgt. Don Taulli of the Riverside Police Department.

If motorists become too combative and pose a danger to students, crossing guards often call police to cite or arrest the offending drivers.

Most recently, police in Santa Ana cracked down on motorists who sped past crossing guards, issuing citations ranging from $77 to $138.

So why would anyone take a part-time job that exposes the worker to serious--sometimes fatal--risks and almost daily insults?

It’s usually not for the money. Most crossing guards are retired senior citizens who work only a few hours a week and earn about $10 an hour or less. Some are homemakers who need a job with short hours.

Finan said he took the job because he got tired of sitting around the house after he retired. After being hit, he returned to it--despite his wife’s concern for his safety--because he said he felt obligated to protect the children in his neighborhood.

Even after Hooper was killed two years ago, none of the San Fernando Valley’s 126 crossing guards quit or asked for shorter hours, said Benjamin Scroggins, who supervises West Valley crossing guards.

Scroggins said Hooper’s death is still a daily reminder of the job’s risks. Scroggins and Hooper were friends for 30 years. Scroggins urged Hooper to become a crossing guard after Hooper retired from the Burbank Department of Water and Power.

A plaque memorializing Hooper is mounted at the North Hollywood intersection where he died and at the city’s crossing guard headquarters in the Valley.

“I’m very proud of these people because they do a great job,” Scroggins said.

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