11/21/05 — One teen critical; other upgraded

View Archive

One teen critical; other upgraded

By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on November 21, 2005 1:50 PM

One of two Greenwood Middle School students injured in an accident Friday while walking to school remained in critical condition today.

Carson Thomas, 13, was listed in critical condition at Pitt Memorial Hospital, a spokesman said this morning.

The condition of Mackenzie Wessels, 13, had been upgraded to good, the spokesman said.

The boys were crossing the street with a third student Friday morning on the "walk" sign at a crosswalk outside of the school on East Ash Street when the accident occurred.

Two of the three boys were struck by a 1995 Ford Explorer driven by Luis Delgado Jesus, 23. Jesus was arrested and charged with having no operator's license, expired registration and expired inspection sticker. He did not own the SUV.

Witnesses said Jesus ran a red light and did not slow down before striking the students.

The boys were taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital, then transferred to Pitt Friday.

Greenwood Principal Larry Dean spoke to students in the eighth grade today. He had promised Friday to keep them aware of any changes in the condition of their classmates.

At the crosswalk early this morning, school officials and Goldsboro police monitored traffic as students made their way to class while a steady rain fell.

Greenwood counselor Selena Bennett said that while no additional staff is on campus this morning, counselors are on call should students need to talk about what happened.

Both boys live on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, police said. The father of one of the boys was stationed in Korea and was flown home by the Air Force to be with his family.