Fort Mill crossing guards concerned after guard seriously injured, another killed in past year

FORT MILL, S.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — The South Carolina Department of Transportation tells Queen City News they will be looking at traffic counts at the entrance to Catawba Ridge High School off Highway 460 in Fort Mill to see if any traffic control changes need to be implemented at the school after a crossing guard was hit by a car while directing traffic earlier this week.

A school crossing guard supervisor says something needs to be done to make Highway 460, which is also Fort Mill Parkway and Springfield Parkway safer.

Back in March, a crossing guard was killed on the highway in front of Fort Mill Middle and Elementary Schools.

“I started shaking, I was trying not to hyperventilate,” said Carmen Wells, the crossing guard supervisor when she learned of Tuesday’s accident.

Wells has really been through it.

“I don’t want anything to happen to anybody, sorry, it’s been a really tough year,” said Wells in tears.

In March, Wells lost her friend.

“Nobody deserves to have this happen and Stanley was just so meticulous, I went through so much sleepless nights with that, and we can’t have this happen again,” said Wells.

Stanley Brucker was directing traffic outside Fort Mill Middle and Elementary Schools in March when he was hit by a car and killed.

“That whole parkway, Springfield Parkway, Fort Mill Parkway, those are our worst posts,” said Wells.

Fast forward seven months; on the same highway, less than four miles away, another guard was hit and seriously injured Tuesday morning in front of Catawba Ridge High School.

“We have to say that change needs to happen because the next person that gets hit is not going to be a crossing guard, it’s going to be a child that’s going to get hit,” said Wells.

Wells says the speed should be lowered in school zones along the highway to 25 miles an hour.

The DOT says after Brucker’s death it reviewed the speed in the area but kept it at 30 miles an hour during school hours.

The agency did not tell QCN why they wouldn’t change it.

“I’m not just scared for me, I’m scared for all of my guards, every single one,” said Wells.

Right now, she’s focused on helping her guard who was hit Tuesday get better.

The guard had to have surgery on her broken femur and has a long recovery ahead.

“I told her I said, ‘I won’t leave you,” said Wells.

Wells says the timing when the flashing lights come on in school zones needs to be better and the lights need to be moved out more from the schools so that drivers slow down sooner.

Fort Mill Police have not said what caused the initial crash between the two cars on Tuesday or whether any charges will be filed.

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