Tony Swain torments the officers who have not found his killer.
“He haunts my dreams,” said Jeffery Ross, a 30-year officer with the Akron Police Department.
In 2005, Swain and his sister were walking to Glover elementary school when a maroon car ignored a crossing guard and barrelled through the intersection at Lovers Lane and Hammel Street. The boy, 10, pushed his sister out of harm’s way — giving his life, instead.
In the weeks that followed, Ross joined an army of Akron police officers who searched but could not find the Ford Thunderbird or Mercury Cougar suspected in the fatal crash. That’s why Swain’s name on a memorial sign at the intersection still haunts Ross, who recalled the incident while testifying in favor of the “Tony Swain legislation” before City Council on Monday.
The measure updates the city code regarding crossing guards, giving them the authority to implicate motorists who ignore their commands and endanger children. City Council unanimously approved the legislation.
Until the change was passed, crossing guards could witness menacing, law-defying drivers but “unless an officer is standing there, we can’t cite them,” said Akron Police Sgt. Troy Mineard.
The measure makes crossing guards’ testimonies probable cause for the Akron police division to issue a citation, resulting in a minor misdemeanor for first offenders and a fourth-degree misdemeanor for motorists with a traffic offense in the prior year.
Mineard oversees the city’s 130 crossing guards. He gets one or two calls a week from a crossing guard complaining that a motorist ignored a command and broke the law.
In October, a woman picking up her child at King elementary hit a crossing guard with her SUV. No injuries were sustained, and the woman was barred from coming back. But the incident illustrates the danger crossing guards and children face from unlawful drivers.
The walk to school can be perilous in the city. In 2013, the Beacon Journal reviewed state crash data to determine that once every 10 days a student was hit while walking to or from school in Akron. The incidents occurred along well-traveled paths, sometimes near crossing guards who too have been threatened by motorists who cuss when told to slow down or wait.
In 2014, Councilman Mike Freeman suggested speed humps could slow down traffic in residential neighborhoods and school zones. Asked by Councilman Russ Neal why that plan fell through, Public Service Director John Moore cited insufficient funding and the inability to plow around them.
Since Swain’s death, the city has made crosswalks more visible. For a time, a private company was hired to deploy speed cameras in school zones. New signage and safety measures have been advanced through the Akron Safe Routes to School program.
But crossing guards, the eyes and ears outside of school, have little say. Using the analogy of a private citizen who uses a radar gun to clock a speeding motorist, Mineard said evidence must be gathered by police to be enough to bring charges.
“Now, the crossing guard can report the license plate number and description of the driver and vehicle, and a citation can be issued,” said Donnie Kammer, who chairs council’s public safety committee. “I think it’s a proposal that’s long overdue.”
Rep. Greta Johnson (D-Akron) is aware of the issue. She plans to introduce a bill that would give crossing guards the same legal clout as school bus drivers, whose word can be used by authorities to issue traffic citations to motorists who try to pass them while unloading or loading students.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug .