FORT MILL, S.C. — Channel 9 is investigating a disturbing trend in the Carolinas and nationwide: crossing guards who are hired to protect kids are being hit by cars while on the job.
There’s no national database for these incidents, but 9 Investigates teamed with our sister stations in seven states and the Associated Press to look into the incidents. We discovered that in the past 10 years, more than 225 crossing guards have been injured or killed.
Channel 9’s South Carolina Reporter Tina Terry covered some of the cases in our area and has talked to people pushing for change. Local and state leaders say they’re working to enhance safety for crossing guards after one of them was hit while directing traffic near Catawba Ridge High School.
“In the moment, it’s kind of frightening and it’s distracting,” said Adrian Ballard, a traffic controller in Clover, South Carolina.
Ballard explained what it’s like to get bumped by a car as a school crossing guard. He says a bump is minor compared to other possibilities.
While Ballard does walk some kids across the street, his primary duty as a traffic controller is to safely direct hundreds of cars in and out of busy Clover schools.
“You would not believe the amount of people coming through the school zone on their phone, eating, doing makeup. I’ve seen people with full-blown laptops riding down the street typing,” Ballard told Terry. “People speed; we’ve had drunk drivers come through and get caught in the school lines.”
He’s never taken a hard hit, but many others have. Across North Carolina, at least four crossing guards have been hit on duty since 2015. In South Carolina, there have been at least nine crashes involving crossing guards since 2018; two of them were deadly.
Our investigation with our sister stations and the AP found records in 180 cases nationwide. More than 70% of the drivers who hit crossing guards received only traffic tickets, or no charges at all.
By the numbers:
- 47 faced criminal charges
- 84 got traffic citations
- 49 got away with no penalty, including five hit-and-run drivers who were never caught
In our communities
The examples include Kershaw County Deputy Chelsea Cockrell, who was directing traffic at an elementary school in 2019 when a driver crashed into her. She spent a short stay in the hospital. But Fort Mill crossing guard Leslie Richardson is still recovering after a car hit her a year ago this month.
Richardson was directing traffic outside of Catawba Ridge High School when she was hit. Her attorney says she’s still out of work.
“It’s been difficult, but she’s not a victim. She’s a survivor, and she’s been fighting to get back to where she was before,” said Kyle White, Richardson’s attorney.
Another Fort Mill crossing guard, Stanley Brucker, died on the job. Family members say he loved serving his community.
[ RELATED >> Crossing guard dies after being hit by car outside Fort Mill school, police say ]
In March of 2024, he was directing traffic outside of Fort Mill Elementary School. Surveillance video shows Brucker in the yellow median on Springfield Parkway looking north. Soon, he raises the red stop sign and steps into the northbound lane. At this point, he’s looking south, directing traffic. A car going north hit Brucker, and he later died. The driver was never charged with a crime.
An attorney for some of Brucker’s family members told us why they’re now suing Fort Mill Schools.
“The Brucker family didn’t understand why their father was being asked to stand in the middle of a busy road and direct traffic when he’s supposed to be helping school children cross to and from bus stops,” said Rutledge Young, an attorney for the Brucker family.
In Fort Mill alone, there have been four crashes involving crossing guards since 2018. All of those guards were directing traffic at the time.
Our investigation uncovered an opinion from South Carolina’s Attorney General issued in 2014 that says crossing guards “do not have the authority to direct or control traffic on public roadways near a school for the purpose of reducing traffic congestion, and thus should not be used for such purposes.”
Young says the school district was “careless.”
“This is the type of situation that should never have been allowed to occur,” he told Channel 9.
The lawsuit says Fort Mill School District was “negligent,” “reckless,” and “knew, or should have known [the area] was unsafe, unreasonably dangerous, and not an appropriate location for a school crossing guard to be located.”
[ SEE MORE >> Fort Mill schools install traffic signals due to crossing guard shortage ]
We asked Fort Mill Schools why Brucker and other guards were allowed to direct traffic in front of schools.
They said they can’t comment because of the pending litigation. But in their answer to the lawsuit, the district made a distinction between a “crossing guard” and a “traffic guard.” They said Brucker was hired by the company Cross Safe as a traffic guard.
Path to a solution?
State Rep. Dustin Martin is in his first term as a state lawmaker representing Fort Mill’s District 26. He told Terry he was born and raised in Fort Mill and went to these schools.
“They were standing in the middle of the road, directing traffic, often in a highway, does that need to stop in the state?” Terry asked him.
“I don’t know if that needs to stop at every single intersection. I think in 2025, there are alternatives to having somebody standing out there holding up a sign and waving it,” Martin said.
Martin is on a new committee created to improve efficiency at the state’s transportation department. He says improved technology could eliminate the need for crossing guards to direct traffic. He also wants to give towns and school districts more authority to make safety changes, like lowering speed limits.
“They should have resources and the power to be able to do that instead of going through the government,” Martin said.
In the meantime, guards like Ballard will continue directing traffic. The Clover School District says it’s necessary for student safety and traffic control. Despite the risk, Adrian Ballard agrees.
“I believe we’re necessary, we’re important, we make a difference,” Ballard said. “They couldn’t operate without us or a solution like us.”
[ ALSO READ >> Crossing guard puts himself between children and ‘aggressive’ driver ]
The third-party company that once provided crossing guards to Fort Mill schools was purchased by another company this year. The new company quickly announced it will no longer allow guards to direct traffic.
Instead, the district has hired police officers to do that at a cost of $100 an hour.
Richardson’s attorney says she plans to take legal action soon over the crash that hurt her last October.
The Department of Transportation committee plans to hold public hearings in Columbia, Sumter, and Charleston in the coming weeks. They’ll consider the input, then file a bill in January. We’ll let you know when specific dates are scheduled.
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