By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
A 6-year-old Salisbury girl was hospitalized after she was struck by a car while waiting for the school bus Tuesday morning on Rowan Mill Road.
Charges are pending against the woman who struck the child, Master Police Officer J.P. Miller said.
The child had been waiting for the school bus at 7:22 a.m. in the car with her father, Steven Swaim, at 1205 Rowan Mill Road.
When she darted across the street, she was hit. The driver, Tammie Starnes Freeman, of 5303 Mooresville Road, was headed toward Sherrills Ford Road.
Freeman was on her way to work at Food Lion. She was driving a 1997 Honda Civic.
Steven Swaim told police he was not sure why the child suddenly crossed the street. She was hit in front of a neighbor’s house at 1208 Rowan Mill Road.
Swaim told the officer he figured his daughter was getting out of the car to hold onto the family’s dog. The neighbor’s children were afraid of the dog and would not get into the car to wait with them while the dog was loose.
“Speed does not appear to be a factor,” Miller said. “The speed limit on that road is 35 mph and she was going about 36 mph.”
Alcohol also was not a factor, he said.
There are no street lights in that area, the officer said.
Salisbury Police Department officers determined the child was hit by the Civic’s passenger-side mirror, which knocked her down.
“Once she was hit, she got up and yelled for her father,” Miller said.
Swaim and Freeman checked on the child.
Swaim told police he asked Freeman for her name and other information, which she provided. After she wrote down her personal information, she left, Miller said.
Freeman was found sometime later by law enforcement.
Swaim took his daughter to Rowan Regional Medical Center in his vehicle. From there, she was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.
The child has a hairline skull fracture over her right eye. She was to be kept overnight and is expected to leave the hospital today.
Swaim declined to to comment.