Students, staff at Indy school beg for 4-way stop after student gets hit by car

INDIANAPOLIS — Students and staff at Circle City High School are begging for a four-way stop to be installed after video shows a student was hit by a car on Tuesday.

"We're a year later from the last accident that hit one of our buses outside of the school, literally a year and a day later, this time, a student was hit, so we are begging for help from the city to make sure we can at least get a four-way stop," said Kimberly Neal-Brannum.

"I was talking with one of my peers, and I ended up hearing like a boom," said Keyon Jemison.

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Jemison was outside waiting to go home when he saw his friend run to avoid being hit by a car.

"When I heard the car skid and I seen my friend jump back, it was it was terrifying," he said.

Neal-Brannum is founder and executive director of the school. She said that teenager is doing OK but students and staff fear traffic in the area.

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"The car hit his feet, so he had minor scrapes and bruises and was checked out, and it's fine. I'm grateful for that," she said. "Yesterday was the second accident in two weeks. The accident prior to that knocked down a stop sign and hit one of our water lines."

She's been advocating for a four-way stop.

"This has been a multi-year situation," she said. "There's a bus stop here for IPS. There's a bus stop here for IndyGo. This is a high-traffic area, and somebody else is going to get hurt. Hopefully it's not any more of our students."

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Indy's Department of Public Works says because Capitol Avenue is categorized as a thoroughfare with a signalized intersection on south of school property, DPW's engineering team doesn't believe a four-way stop is necessary.

Indy DPW released the following statement:

Indy DPW has been in direct contact with the school regarding safety infrastructure along this road.

In a visit to the area this morning, our engineering and operations divisions observed that all signage, markings and electronics were installed and working properly.

Capitol Avenue is categorized as a thoroughfare with a signalized intersection on the south end of the school property, and our engineering team believes it is inadvisable to install a four-way stop at the 26th Street intersection due to current traffic volumes.

While we are awaiting details of the crash investigation from IMPD, video provided to Indy DPW shows a driver on the sidewalk. Indy DPW is committed to a safe experience for all users of our public right of way, especially our most vulnerable road users: children.

Our thoughts are with the student, their family and all of BELIEVE Circle City High School.

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Neal-Brannum said one step forward could be moving the flashing school zone lights closer to the school.

"And ideally, some officers out here to start writing some tickets and holding people accountable for the speed that they go down Capitol," she said. "The flashing lights are down there, you can't even see them from the school. They're that far down the street, so they're not helpful."