11-year-old dies after being hit by suspected drunk driver while in Bay Area school crosswalk
Solano County Coroner officials on Monday identified the 11-year-old girl struck and severely injured in a Fairfield school crosswalk last week and later died as Terra Starr-Jackson.
A spokeswoman for the Coroner said the girl died at 6:13 p.m. Sunday after the family reportedly decided to take her off life support at the UCSF Children’s Hospital in Oakland.
The driver of the vehicle, 32-year-old Elena Lindsey McGraw-Ogans, of Fairfield, was arrested and booked into Solano County Jail midafternoon Thursday but, at some point, later posted bail and was released.
Court records on Friday showed she was expected to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Monday in Solano County Superior Court on suspicion of felony DUI causing bodily injury, among other suspected offenses. However, the case was not scheduled on electronic reader boards in two Fairfield courthouses.
A spokeswoman for the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, Monica Martinez, said McGraw-Ogans’ next court appearance has been scheduled for 8:30 p.m. May 16. The courtroom and department numbers were underdetermined on Monday, added Martinez.
It was unclear Monday if DA Krishna Abrams will upgrade the main charge to felony DUI causing death, or possibly murder, as Martinez declined to release any more information about the case.
At her booking, McGraw-Ogans also was suspected of child endangerment, because some of her own children were in her vehicle at the time of the collision, and driving without insurance, a violation of the Vehicle Code, information confirmed by Jennifer Brantley, the public information officer for the Fairfield Police Department, who last week issued a press statement.
Fairfield police dispatchers began receiving calls at 8:30 a.m. about a child struck by a vehicle. Officers and firefighter/paramedics responded to the area of East Tabor and Blossom avenues, where the collision occurred, in front of Grange Middle School.
Starr-Jackson was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries but apparently was later taken to the Oakland hospital.
A spokeswoman for Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, Lindsey Michels, said Monday that district officials were “supporting the mental health needs” of students and offered condolences to Starr-Jackson’s family.
Michels also confirmed that at the time of the Thursday collision, at 1975 Blossom, there were no crossing guards assigned to stop traffic and escort children across the street, adding that the district is still looking to fill some crossing guard positions.
Brantley said the department’s Traffic Unit eventually took over the investigation. Investigators interviewed McGraw-Ogans, who was driving a Chevrolet sedan.
From the interview, evidence, and investigation, she is believed to have been under the influence of alcohol and drugs, Brantley added.
The roadway was cleared at 11:50 a.m., and the investigation remains ongoing, said Brantley, adding that no further information was available at press time Thursday and also said no update was available at press time Monday.
“In the meantime, please speak to your children about the dangers of vehicle traffic and stress the importance of pedestrian safety and awareness,” she wrote in the statement issued last week. “We, again, implore drivers to abide by traffic laws, especially around schools, near crosswalks, and in the neighborhoods surrounding them, and to never, ever drive impaired. It takes nothing to observe traffic laws and doing so could potentially save a life.”