Four secondary student occupants of the car taken to hospital with "minor" injuries
BY VOICE STAFF
Just after 12 noon today, a car climbed the southeast curb at the intersection of Pelham Street and Port Robinson Road in Fonthill, in front of Glynn A. Green Elementary School, flattening a utility box before coming to rest against a small oak tree.
The number of DSBN secondary student occupants in the vehicle was said to be five by DSBN Communications Officer Brett Sweeney, while Town of Pelham Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald asserts that there were four. At least four of the occupants were transported to hospital.
When the Voice arrived on scene, a young male, apparently the operator of the vehicle and visibly shaken, was placed in the back seat of a Niagara Regional Police patrol car.
The constable present described the event as a “minor accident,” and said that “no one was seriously hurt.”
Glynn A. Green school Principal Pam Voth declined to comment.
At the start of this school year, the Town of Pelham decided to stop providing a crossing guard at the intersection at lunch time, citing a reduced number of students leaving the school during lunch hour. The Town has yet to respond to a Voice request—made some weeks ago— for the study results that were used to justify pulling the guard from duty, a decision that some parents speculated was made to save money, and not on the actual needs of the school. (In response to an earlier version of this story, Pelham's Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald has told the Voice that he will provide the study results on Friday.)
Shortly before 1 PM, a tow truck had arrived and removed the car, a black Volkswagen sedan with a damaged front end, from the scene.
NOTE: An earlier version of this story reported that five elementary school students were struck, and were taken to hospital with minor injuries. This account was based on an eyewitness report that turned out to be incorrect, and comments made by the constable on scene that initially seemed to support this version of events. The Voice regrets the error.
