‘She laid in the road’: Florida child denied bus, gets hit by car riding bike to school

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. ( WFLA ) — An 11-year-old Florida girl was hit by a car while riding her bike in the dark to school last week, according to police.

The driver was arrested for allegedly fleeing the scene, but the crash is pointing to a bigger problem.

Jennifer Reznick said she has been pleading with the Pasco County School District for years to let her daughter, Cherie, ride the bus.

She said she was fighting to prevent the “what ifs,” such as “what if” her daughter gets hit by a car, but that became a reality last week.

“She laid in the road, obviously shocked and stunned she had just been hit by a car,” Reznick said.

In addition, New Port Richey police said the driver fled the scene.

“She gets knocked to the ground, [and] her bicycle is bent,” Traffic Homicide Investigator Cpl. Al Hazime said. “The driver gets out of the vehicle to check on her. What he does after that is leaves her in the dark, an 11-year-old girl by herself.”

Hazime said Johnny Parker, the dayshift officer assigned to the case, received an anonymous tip that helped lead to an arrest.

“He followed up to verify and through his interview, he determined that this was the guy that was involved,” Hazime said. “The damage of the car was consistent with that of the crash and he did confess to being there.”

He said that the 77-year-old driver went to jail.

“The law allows for some leniency, but what you can’t do is abandon a child or anyone for that matter in the dark after you’ve hit them,” Hazime said.

In Pasco County, you have to live more than two miles from a school to ride the bus. Reznick lives just one-tenth of a mile short of that.

She said even after her daughter was hit by a car on the way to school, the school district won’t bend that rule for Cherie.

“This is not a safe situation,” Reznick said. “I’ve asked repeatedly for a bus and I’ve been denied and I’m still being denied even after my child was hit by a car.”

Superintendent Kurt Browning said it comes down to not having enough bus drivers.

“It’s unfortunate, but I keep asking my staff the question, when is two miles not two miles? If you make an exception here, then the next parent comes in and says … ‘I live 1.9 miles, I need a bus,’ and we say we can’t do that and they say, ‘But you did it here, here and here, why aren’t you doing it for me?'” he said.

“It’s unfortunate, but that’s what we have to do,” Browning said.

New Port Richey police said Cherie had her helmet on, had the correct lights on her bike and stopped when she was supposed to.

Reznick said Cherie got banged up but is expected to be OK.

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