The Texas Department of Public Safety has stated its intent to investigate a March 29 incident in Greenville that resulted in the death of a Bowie Elementary School crossing guard.
Jewell Sandlin, 87, died on April 11 as a result of injuries suffered when she was struck by a motor vehicle while on duty, shortly before 7 a.m. on March 29. The incident happened on Stonewall Street, in front of the school.
Hunt County District Attorney Noble D. Walker Jr. has been identified as the driver of the vehicle that struck Sandlin.
A Texas Department of Transportation incident report said that Walker failed to yield to Sandlin. The report indicated rainy and dark conditions at the time of the event, but that street lights were on. Walker’s vehicle was traveling north on Stonewall when it struck Sandlin in the pedestrian crossing at the intersection with Poplar Street. Walker remained at the scene until police arrived, the report said.
The involvement of DPS comes at the request of Greenville Police Chief Daniel Busken, who sent a letter to the agency on April 24 requesting that DPS assist local authorities. The City of Greenville released information about the letter on April 25.
“Due to the official relationship between District Attorney Walker and the Greenville Police Department, I believe the proper course of action would be to have further investigation, review of the facts, and the consideration of the outcome of the investigation conducted by an agency outside of this jurisdiction,” Busken said.
This is the first public comment that the Greenville Police Department has made about the incident.
Jewell Sandlin had worked as a crossing guard at Bowie for 14 years. After the incident, she was driven by ambulance to the Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville and was later transferred to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, where she later died.
The City of Greenville’s April 25 statement said that the Greenville Police Department received autopsy results on April 20, indicating the cause of death as “blunt force injuries.” The statement also said that the decision whether to press criminal charges against Walker remains undetermined, pending results of the investigation.
Walker told Dallas-based WFAA-TV he “couldn’t express enough how deeply saddened and sorry” he was. David Sandlin, the son of Jewell Sandlin, said Walker visited his mother in the hospital and apologized. He said “she forgave him, of course.”
