Police in Escambia County, Florida, charged a 29-year-old woman with ignoring a stopped school bus and hitting and seriously injuring a 12-year-old girl, reports the Pensacola News Journal.
Laurel Peyton Lewis of Foley, Alabama is jail on counts of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury and failure to stop for a school bus involving injury following the Dec. 5 incident.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the school bus was stopped facing westbound with its warning lights activated, and presumably the stop arm extended, though no reference to the latter is made in the report. Lewis’ vehicle was traveling eastbound when she failed to stop for the bus that and proceeded to hit the student.
Lewis then fled the scene. Troopers received an anonymous tip that a vehicle matching the description of the one that hit the girl was parked in front of a local Subway restaurant. Responding officers noted the damage to the vehicle, including scuff marks that appeared to be from the black velvet shoes the child was wearing.
The troopers soon located Lewis as a person matching a description provided by witnesses and questioned her. She admitted to hitting the child and leaving the scene.
