Paris, Tenn.–Paris Police Chief Ricky Watson announced this morning that after investigation, the city will not be pressing charges against the driver who struck a pedestrian in a downtown crosswalk earlier this week.
Meanwhile, TDOT workers are repainting the crosswalk today with bigger stripes to make it more noticeable.
An employee of Commercial Bank & Trust was walking to work around 7:42 a.m. Monday, February 13, when she was struck at the Wood and Brewer Street intersection. The victim was airlifted to Vanderbilt where she remains with serious injuries.
According to the Paris Police press release, upon arrival at the intersection, officers discovered the victim was struck while crossing North on East Wood Street by a vehicle that was traveling east on Wood Street.
Through the investigation, officers were given a video by the driver of the truck, which had an in-car video recording at the time of the accident. Investigation was conducted by the Paris Police Department and the District Attorney’s office and it has been determined that no criminal charges are going to be filed in this case, Watson said.
“The video has a true representation of what occurred. Although the video is disturbing to watch it appears to be a horrible accident,” Watson said in the press release. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those involved.”
City Community Development Director Jennifer Morris noted that TDOT had planned to paint piano key crosswalks downtown earlier, but the ice storm delayed it. The city has received two grants for projects to alleviate the downtown dangers at crosswalks and TDOT had offered to paint the new stripes as soon as they could get to it, Morris said. There have been several pedestrians hit and multiple near-misses at downtown intersections.
Photo: TDOT workers painting new stripes at the Brewer-Wood St. intersection today. Shannon McFarlin photo.