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Family sues school district, driver after Fort Mill crossing guard hit and killed

By Tina Terry, wsoctv.com
By Tina Terry, wsoctv.com

FORT MILL, S.C. — The family of a crossing guard killed in Fort Mill is suing the school district and the driver involved.

Stanley Brucker, 61, was hit and killed back in March along Springfield Parkway. No charges were filed in the case.

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61-year-old Stanley Brucker A crossing guard has died after being hit by a car outside of a Fort Mill, South Carolina elementary and middle school complex, police said. Investigators are still deciding if charges will be filed against the driver.

On Thursday, Channel 9′s Tina Terry dug through a new lawsuit filed by Brucker’s family. It alleges Fort Mill Schools should have known that the area was unsafe for a crossing guard to work in.

Brucker, who was also a father and a husband, was assigned to direct traffic in front of Fort Mill Elementary and Middle schools.

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In April, Channel 9 obtained surveillance video from the day he died. We could see Brucker standing in the yellow median on Springfield Parkway looking to the north. Eventually, he raised his red stop sign and stepped into the northbound lane. That’s when a car headed north hit Brucker, who died after the crash.

His family’s lawsuit says the Fort Mill School District was “negligent,” “careless,” and “reckless.” It alleges the district “...knew or should have known [the area] was unsafe, unreasonably dangerous, and not an appropriate location for a school crossing guard to be located.”

The lawsuit says the district contracted with the company Cross Safe to provide crossing guards and the district was responsible for choosing the specific locations where the guards work.

“When I’m in a school zone, everyone I see slows down,” said driver Benjamin Frias.

But the lawsuit also takes aim at the driver who hit Brucker, saying she was negligent and reckless for several reasons, including “failing to keep a proper lookout” and “…traveling too fast for conditions.”

Channel 9 never named the driver because she was never charged with a crime. We tried to reach out to her on Thursday but a number we found was disconnected.

The attorney who filed the lawsuit did not want to comment, and a spokesperson for Fort Mill Schools said it does not comment on pending litigation.

The district asked the South Carolina Department of Transportation to lower the speed limits near the school after the crash. The agency declined.

(WATCH BELOW: City leaders press SCDOT for changes after new video shows deadly crossing guard accident)

City leaders press SCDOT for changes after new video shows deadly crossing guard accident

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