Crowley ISD 7th grader in ICU after being hit by car at busy roundabout

A Crowley ISD 7th grader remains in the ICU after being hit by a car while crossing the street Tuesday afternoon.

Police say the driver stopped, but the boy’s parents and neighbors believe it was only a matter of time before an accident happened at the roundabout at McPherson Boulevard and Summer Creek Drive.

Residents say it’s common to see dozens of students crossing through the area before and after school.

On Tuesday around 4:30 p.m., Rachel Taylor received a call that her son’s routine scooter ride had nearly turned tragic.

“She was like, I need to tell you he was in an accident, and he got hit by a car,” Taylor said.

Fort Worth police said 12-year-old Andrew Lusk was in critical condition when he was rushed to Cook Children’s Medical Center. Two days later, he remains in the ICU.

“He has two cracked ribs on the right side. He has multiple orbital, eye orbit fractures. This whole side of his face is swollen,” Taylor said.

Lusk is showing signs of improvement, and doctors believe he will make a full recovery, but Taylor says the roundabout has long been a safety concern.

“Every day there’s kids riding. There’s kids walking. There’s kids on scooters. There’s so many cars. It’s just so chaotic, and it always has worried me. But this was just the push. I just can’t keep quiet, because it’s horrible,” she said.

According to TXDOT data, five crashes occurred at this roundabout near Summer Creek Middle School last year, with another eight reported in 2023. While none involved pedestrians, neighbors say they have witnessed several near misses.

The City of Fort Worth said it has made efforts to improve pedestrian safety, including adding signage in 2020 and restriping crosswalks last year. However, after Tuesday’s accident, officials say they are actively investigating additional solutions.

“Of course, reworking the intersection has come up,” said Council Member Jared Williams.

Williams said neighbors have suggested replacing the roundabout and yield signs with a four-way stop or traffic light.

“Our office and certainly our neighbors are not leaving any solution off the table to ensure that an accident like this doesn’t happen again, so we’re going to engage those conversations going forward,” he said.

Williams, who has made pedestrian safety a priority, said the city will soon announce plans to replace a four-way stop with a traffic light at Summer Creek and Reisinger Road—another intersection that has raised concerns.

Taylor said she previously did not allow her son to ride his scooter to school due to safety concerns at both intersections. Tuesday, he was riding to a friend’s house.

Now, without significant changes, she says she won’t allow it again.

“These streets have to be managed better. They have to be,” she said.