Tort claims seek $40 million over bus stop

“This is a dangerous place to put a bus stop. We know for a fact that one child was permanently injured here, and another was killed. There is a limited sight line, vehicles traveling at high rates of speed and almost no shoulder,” Edwards said in an email. ”

All of those factors and a lack of “proper signage” created the dangerous conditions for Carey, Smith and other students who wait for the school bus, the tort claims state.

“We are presently trying to locate others who have been hurt or had near-misses at this intersection — whether children or not. We suspect there are others,” Edwards said.

Elizabeth was struck and killed by a minivan Oct. 19 while walking the 1,500 feet from her house to wait for the school bus. She and her younger sister — students at Daybreak Primary/Middle School — were playing and jumping around as they walked, their father, Anthony Smith, previously told The Columbian, and Elizabeth went out into the road a bit. A silver minivan traveling south on 82nd Avenue struck Elizabeth, throwing her into the ditch, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities at the time said the driver, Dennis Gene Lemke, then 76 of La Center, was cooperating with the investigation.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu said Monday that the investigation was later sent to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review and, to date, no criminal charges have been brought against Lemke. It’s typical for crashes involving a fatality or serious injury to be forwarded to the prosecuting attorney’s office, he said.

On the morning of June 10, 2013, Carey, then 16, was waiting at the school bus stop when a Nissan Altima traveling south veered off the road and struck him. Carey was thrown more than 80 feet and landed in some nearby bushes. The impact fractured both of his legs and severed an artery in his right leg. His injuries later led to the amputation of his lower right leg.

The driver, Shaun Johnson, had told deputies that she dropped a lit cigarette on the floor of her car and bent down to retrieve it when she went off the road. She said she didn’t know that she hit anyone. Because Carey was concealed by the bushes, he wasn’t found until more than 90 minutes later. A tow truck driver heard his faint cries for help.

In February, a Clark County Superior Court jury, for a second time, found that Johnson, 50, was under the influence of methamphetamine when she struck Carey. She was sentenced to three years in prison.