School Crossing Guard Saves Child From Serious Injury

An alert and quick thinking school crossing guard prevented what could have been a tragedy outside Chesnut Charter Elementary last week.

On Monday, Dunwoody City Councilman John Heneghan reported on his blog  that his seven-year-old son was almost struck by a vehicle while walking to school this past Thursday.

Heneghan said his son usually walks about two blocks to school with a fourth grader each morning. "The kids walked down North Peachtree Road to Chesnut," Heneghan said. "Crossing guard Ms. Lorraine Knox assembled a few children at the crosswalk in front of the school, stopped northbound traffic with her double-sided, [illuminated] 'Stop Sign.'

"There was no southbound traffic to stop. Kids crossed under the supervision of Ms. Knox who was standing in the middle of the road with her stop sign. [My son] was the last child to go across."

Then Knox saw a pickup truck proceeding southbound, heading toward the crosswalk, and not appearing to slow down.

"She then she took it upon herself to push my son out of the way of the large pickup truck. My son's rolling backpack was hit and dragged 10 feet down the road."

Heneghan said the driver, a Sandy Springs resident, pulled over. Chesnut Principal Veronica Williams escorted him to the office so he could provide his driver’s license and a phone number.

Based on the official Dunwoody Police report, the driver was cited later in the day with “Obedience To Authorized Person Directing Traffic.”

"By all accounts, Ms. Knox saved my son’s life and the Heneghan family will be forever grateful!" Heneghan said.

Heneghan also said that he will be proposing all major roadway crosswalks serving Dunwoody schools be outfitted with so-called High Intensity Activated Crosswalk, or HAWK lights, or inground crosswalk lights that he suggested for a possible new crosswalk at Tilly Mill and Stonington.