Settlement reached in case of man striking girl boarding school bus

FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. — An $81,000 settlement was approved on Monday by a judge here in a case involving a motorist who struck a girl as she was crossing the street to board a school bus, Winston-Salem Journal reports.

On Jan. 7, 2013, second-grader Kelly Seanee Smith was hit by a car driven by Edward Rashad Lee Fulks, then 17; the mirror on Fulks’ car hit Smith in the face and neck. She did not suffer serious injuries, according to Winston-Salem Journal. Fulks pleaded guilty in November 2013 to felony hit-and-run with injury, felony passing a stopped school bus and misdemeanor driving without a license, the newspaper reports. He received a suspended sentence of six to 17 months and was put on supervised probation for 24 months.

Kelly’s father, Kerry Smith Sr., filed a lawsuit last year against Fulks and the owner of the car Fulks was driving, according to Winston-Salem Journal. His attorney said the girl’s jaw was injured, and medical bills have come close to $20,000. Attorneys in the case went into mediation and agreed on the settlement, which will go toward medical bills, attorney fees, Kelly’s college education, and about $33,000 for an annuity for her, according to the newspaper.

Kerry Smith Sr. told Winston-Salem Journal that he had complained many times before the accident about the bus stop near his house being dangerous, and that in November 2013, school officials moved the stop so that it was in front of his house and his children wouldn’t have to cross the street to board the bus.

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