‘It took death’
Crossing guards come too late to save boy
The crossing guards came a day too late to save little Payson Lott.
Folks in t he neighborhood where the 7-year-old was struck and killed 24 hours earlier couldn’t help but notice the new arrivals Friday: Two guards positioned at the intersection near a homemade memorial honoring the lost and lovable child.
“It took death for somebody to be there,” said fellow school crossing guard Sarah Bryant, 62, working her post a few blocks away. “That could’ve been avoided.”
East New York parents shared the same sentiment over the prior lack of any guards at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Blake Aves., where a driver with a suspended license slammed into Payson around 8:15 a.m. Thursday.
The boy was strolling with his mom to P.S. 328 when the Jeep making a right-hand turn plowed into them both, killing the child.
Bryant recalled how the two always walked hand-inhand as they headed to Payson’s classroom.
Local parents, while just as upset by the lack of crossing guards on Thursday, were hardly surprised by their arrival on Friday.
“They never had a crossing guard,” agreed East New York resident Najah Rice, who has a daughter the same age as Payson. “It was never — not one crossing guard on this corner.”
The memorial featured hearts, balloons, candles and a stuffed animal, along with hand-written messages to Payson.
“Heaven gained another angel,” read one of the more poignant notes.
Eyewitness Donald Terry, 56, said the driver wasn’t paying attention as she made the right-hand turn and plowed into Shadeen Lott while the mom and her son were inside the crosswalk.
“She didn’t drive recklessly,” said Terry, who graduated from P.S. 328 back in 1983. “What she did wrong was she ain’t pay attention to the people.”
Terry, the father of three school-age children, said he had trouble sleeping Thursday night after seeing the deadly accident. He recalled hearing the 39-year-old mother’s screams before she began begging bystanders to help her stop the bleeding from Payson’s head.
“There was no school guard there, so I think that’s the city’s fault,” he said. “We have to do more, telling people, ‘Look, you’ve got to slow down.’ ”
Driver Susan Pierrot, 48, was issued a desk appearance ticket and charged with operating a car without a license, failure to yield and failure to exercise due care.
Crossing guard Bryant recalled breaking into tears after learning the little boy, who greeted her with a daily hug, was gone.
“He was a good boy, and he was my heart,” she said. “It hurt me to my heart.”