Community sparks change after teen struck in crosswalk

A petition is circulating online to make Ohio school zones safer. This comes after a teenager was killed while in a crosswalk outside the Lakota East Freshman Campus in Liberty Township. Aspen Dylan Runnels, 15, died this week after being struck in a marked crosswalk nine days ago, just after school. His mother says her son has been very generous, and now he is giving us the gift of change. “He was really a happy kid and, you know, he never met a stranger who was always smiling,” said Aspen's mother, Christina Alcorn. Runnels was struck by a pickup truck last Wednesday on Bethany Road, across from Lakota East Freshman Campus, police said. “He was the kind of kid who held the door for people and said good day to everyone, every person,” Alcorn said. According to an accident report, the driver who hit Aspen looked away from the road to adjust. baby's pacifier. “Something has to be done for the children,” said Trisha Parnell, a mother whose daughter was hit by a car. Now the community is trying to prevent this from happening again. “He was going about his usual business. That's probably what he normally did,” Parnell said. “My own accident happened six years ago and people haven't learned from it,” Maddy Beare said. Parnell and Beare are part of the solution. Beare was hit by a car in a crosswalk in 2018 when she was the same age as Aspen. “He won't be able to go to school, to college, to fall in love. These are things that everyone should be able to do. It's not fair,” Beare said. Parnell started a petition to make these streets safer in Ohio. for kids. “This is no longer the age when these lights were created. They don't work anymore. There are too many distractions, so you have to do something beyond that. You have to get their attention, whether they want it or not,” Parnell said. Parnell wants improvements in school zones with rumble strips or speed bumps. Although Beare has never met Aspen, she wants to bring about change in her honor.