Blog Post

Parents of Girl Injured in Car Accident Sue Turlock School District


May 02, 2008
Topic: Auto Accidents

New signs that warn drivers of a school crossing have been installed at the crosswalk where Geer and Pedras Roads in Turlock, California meet. But it's a little late in the day for them to be of any use to Rachel McClure. The 7-year-old is brain damaged after a car accident in the crosswalk. Her family has now filed a lawsuit against Turlock Unified School District seeking $2.8 million in damages.

Last October, Rachel, along with her older sister Rebecca, was heading home from school, and stepped into the crosswalk. They didn't see the Toyota Camry that was racing trying to beat the red light until it had slammed against Rachel. The girl was flown to University of California at Davis Medical Center in Sacramento after the car accident. She was in the hospital for a total of four weeks, one of which she spent in a coma. She suffered a range of injuries in the car accident - a broken leg, a broken hip, skull fractures and brain injuries. She has suffered long lasting effects of the car accident - brain damage.

The driver of the car, an illegal alien, is believed to have fled back across the border. Rachel's family also blames the Turlock Unified School District, which is named in the lawsuit. Rachel and Rebecca, who attended Crowell Elementary School, were told last year that they were being moved to another school, where they would have no bus service. Their mother, Tonya, is disabled and has no driver's license, and she petitioned the district for a bus pickup. The district informed her that her girls could attend Sandra Tovar Medeiros Elementary School in north Turlock. The children would be picked up and dropped off at the Crowell Elementary School, and would have to walk from there. This was where the car accident occurred.

The crux of their lawsuit is that there were no crossing guards posted at the point where Geer Road meets Pedras Road. There were two crossing guards posted at two other points, although the school has not confirmed if they were on duty at the time of the car accident.

In their response to the lawsuit, the school board authorities have passed off the blame of the car accident on the McClure's, saying they "assumed the risk" when they decided to send their daughter to school knowing that she had to walk home after being dropped off at Crowell Elementary. Actually, there shouldn't have been an element of risk in a child walking home from school, and there wouldn't have been if there had been a crossing guard posted where the car accident occurred. Going to and coming home from school should not be a dangerous matter, especially when the school district has taken the responsibility of busing them to and fro on itself.

If arrangements could not have been made to provide a bus service that would pick them and drop them off right at their doorstep, there should have been crossing guards to make up. These were 7 and 8 years old girls, - you can't just dump kids of that age at a major and busy intersection, cross your fingers and hope someone won't take it into his head to speed or run a red light. The school district has not only been negligent, but also callous in its response to the McClures.

If you have been injured in a car accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.