Driver charged in Garinger High hit-and-run case
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have arrested a driver who they said struck a Garinger High School student on Eastway Drive near the school Tuesday and then left the scene.
The 15-year-old girl was hit while crossing the four-lane road at about 7 a.m., police said. Medic took the student to Carolinas Medical Center, where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The student was not in a crosswalk when she was hit, police said.
Police found the driver and the car about two hours later but have not said where. Josue Anival Lores-Benitez, 26, was charged with felony hit-and-run and driving while having no operator’s license.
It was dark at the time of the collision, which happened where Eastway Drive intersects with Peace Street. A witness told the Observer that numerous students cross the road there to get to school each day.
In 2012, Garinger High senior Brittany Palmer, 18, was struck and killed by a Jeep Grand Cherokee while she was crossing Eastway Drive at East Sugar Creek Road in front of the school.
The Charlotte Department of Transportation has made improvements near Garinger that have included pedestrian signals, sidewalks and marked crosswalks, spokeswoman Linda Durrett said.
Staff writer Karen Sullivan contributed
This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 7:15 AM with the headline "Driver charged in Garinger High hit-and-run case."