Woman Hits School Crossing Guard; Charged With DUI, Texting While Driving

The school year got off to a rough start for this Tennessee mom, as she was charged with a long list of crimes, including texting while driving, after hitting a school crossing guard with her car. Back to school and back to jail for Stephanie Marie Gruthoff, 26, after her Volkswagen hit crossing guard Siji D. Hutcherson in front of Brighton High School.

The accident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. on Tuesday and things were so bad for Hutcherson that they had to airlift them to the hospital.

According to Gruthoff, she dropped her cell phone and when she reached down to pick it up, that is when she struck the crossing guard on U.S. 51. That sounds like something many people have probably done before, minus the actual hitting of a person!

From the sounds of it, Gruthoff may have had a few more things influencing the accident. Besides the texting while driving charge, she was also charged with driving under the influence, vehicular assault, failure to exercise due care, driving on a suspended license and failure to have insurance.

Gruthoff is scheduled for a court appearance on Oct. 27.

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Source: WREG