Update on fatal bus accident in Bay County

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A first-grader was killed and 9-year-old injured when the two were struck by a car as they tried to cross Front Beach Road on Wednesday morning.

The siblings, 6-year-old Julie Lister and 9-year-old Michael McFall, were accompanied by other children and two adults as they headed to a bus stop about 7 a.m. at the intersection of Front Beach Road and 16th Street. As the two Panama City Beach children attempted to cross the street, they were hit by a 1993 Oldsmobile being driven by Kathleen B. Jackson, 61, of Vernon, who was heading west near the Laguna Beach Christian Retreat, Florida Highway Patrol investigators said in a news release.

Julie was pronounced dead at the scene. Michael was taken to Bay Medical Center, where he was admitted and listed in critical condition Wednesday afternoon. Julie’s body lay in the street, under a yellow sheet, much of Wednesday morning while Florida Highway Patrol officials investigated the wreck. Bodies often remain at the scene until the medical examiner’s office can arrive and remove them, troopers said.

Julie and Michael attend Hutchison Beach Elementary School, school officials confirmed Wednesday.

The other students at the bus stop were sent home, school officials said.

Ken Phillips, director of transportation for Bay District Schools, said school officials are investigating the death to determine the safety of the bus stop.

Officials are “trying to make sure the bus stop is safe, and we do believe that it is,” Phillips said.

He added that pedestrian signs are present in the area and children have crossed the street to reach the bus stop for the “last five years.”

The district’s crisis intervention team went to Hutchison Beach on Wednesday and spoke with the students in every classroom about the incident, principal Shirley Ramsey said.

Giving each student the facts also gives them “a chance to ask questions and for us to be there for them,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey added that parents should allow their children to talk about the death with them and that they should be open to answering their questions. Parents who need help talking to their children should not hesitate to call the school for assistance or to come to the school to meet with a professional, Ramsey added.

“Our heart goes out to the family of both of the students that were in the accident this morning,” Ramsey said. “They will be in our thoughts and prayers.”

In October 2008, 13-year-old Melissa Tindell was killed while waiting at a bus stop when she darted into John Pitts Road to save a stray kitten, authorities said. In the months after her death, Melissa’s family crusaded for safer bus stops, slower speed limits around bus stops and more signs to warn drivers they were approaching a spot where children congregate.

“My advice to the family is to rely on friends and let your friends hold you up,” Melissa’s uncle, Mike Tindell, said Wednesday. “Go ahead and cry; don’t try to hold it in.”

Florida Freedom Newswire writers Chris Segal and Andrew Gant contributed to this story.