SAPULPA, Okla. — A 7-year-old is in the hospital after someone ran over her outside of Holmes Park Elementary in Sapulpa.
Police responded to the school around 8:30 in the morning on Jan. 30 after it getting a report a driver hit a young child. Captain Troy Foreman said the driver left the scene, because they didn't realize they had hit anyone.
"As they were pulling out of the parking lot, they had stopped to look to their left," said Foreman. "There was two other students that were walking on the sidewalk coming up to the drive. One of the students had went to walk in front of the vehicle unbeknownst to the driver of the SUV."
The driver was in a tall vehicle, which Foreman said contributed to the collision. Not only was their visibility partially obstructed, they also failed to look right as they pulled out of the lot.
"You've got a child that's seven years old, so a little bit shorter, and an SUV this was a GMC Acadia, so it's going to sit a bit higher," said Foreman. "There were several combinations of thing that came into play with this type of crash because you've got traffic that's coming from your left when you're pulling out so obviously you look as a driver to your left, not really thinking about people walking down the sidewalk to your right."
First responder's transported the child to a Tulsa hospital, they said the child was alert. The police were able to track down the driver, and they are said to be cooperating with the investigation.
Holmes Park parent Trevor James said it was difficult to hear about something like this happening at his daughter's school.
"She's not a walker, but it makes me concerned if I was to let her walk in the future that like I just can't really trust people to pay attention," said James. "I get out myself and i open her door and let her out and make sure I watch her go to the school, and I know she's safe that way."
Glenn Coffey oversees safety and security for Sapulpa Public Schools. He said officials used their Rave mobile safety app to report the incident to all emergency and school personnel.
All district staff have access to the app. When they open it, they hold a button for a second and a half, which notifies everyone needed in one push.
"It's one system making a notification to everybody all at the same time," said Coffey. "It cuts out several different phone calls or text messages in order to to it all at one time."
The app also uses a location service which goes out to everyone to streamline the push further.
Sapulpa Public Schools Superintendent Rob Armstrong and Assistant Superintendent Johnny Bilby visited the student at the hospital and spoke with her mother. They said the student is stable, and the hospital is running further tests.
"Sapulpa Public Schools urges extreme caution to anyone driving in school zones and while dropping off and picking up students," the school said in a statement.
Officers located the driver and said they were cooperating with the investigation.
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