Muskogee Boy Struck At Crosswalk In Front Of His School

A seven-year-old boy on his way to school was hit by a truck this morning in Muskogee.

He was injured, but talking and alert when he was taken to a hospital.

The accident happened right in front of an elementary school, where parents say they've worried before about traffic, especially on Wednesdays, when the school has unusual hours.

The road in front of Irving Elementary is busy and the school zone is clearly marked.

There's a traffic signal right in front at a crosswalk, but it only turns red before and after classes on normal school days.

On Wednesday mornings, school starts a half hour late for teacher training, but the lights outside the school don't reflect the change.

That figured in to how a little boy was hit in this intersection about 8:45 in the morning.

"We were worried it would happen, and it happened," said parent Sandy Newman.

Newman said she had noticed the problem and reported it to the school district, but it wasn't fixed.

"And I told them, I was like, ‘The crosswalk lights aren't working and somebody is going to get hit,'" Newman said.

After the accident, the city had a worker come out to check over the lights to make sure they were working.

The school district said they're checking on reprogramming the lights for Wednesdays.

There's normally a 6th grader from the safety patrol out in front, but Wednesday, they went inside before the last students arrived. The district said that's going to change.

Melony Carey, of Muskogee Public Schools said, "They're going to allow them to stay out as long as needed to make sure every student makes it into the building safely."

Muskogee Police say the driver was not ticketed for the accident.

Sandy Newman said hearing about what happened only makes her more certain to drive her children.

"I drop my girls off. We live close enough they could walk, but there' no way in heck I'd let my girls walk," Newman said.

We have heard, through parents, the little boy has a broken collarbone and some cuts, but is otherwise doing okay.