Image Credit: Nashville.gov & mnps.org
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
The community is looking for answers after the alleged attempted kidnapping of three girls last Thursday morning in the Hermitage area.
According to Metro Nashville Police, 31-year-old Levi P. Combs of Hermitage was arrested after allegedly chasing a 15-year-old girl and two 13-year-old girls as they walked to the school bus stop around 6:20 a.m.
The chase happened about 20 minutes before sunrise, and the area in which the girls were walking is not well lit.
Officials state that Combs allegedly followed the girls, increasing his speed as they tried to get away, and reportedly called out to them to stop. Even after one of the girls’ mothers arrived on the scene, Combs is said to have insisted that he wanted to talk with all of the girls in his vehicle.
Don Aaron, a public information officer for MNPD, released a statement saying, “None of the juveniles knew the defendant,” but Combs was identified by Youth Services officers from a photograph taken by the mother. He lived only about a mile from the bus stop.
Now community members want to know what Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell plans to do to address the safety concerns surrounding these early morning trips to the bus stop. With high schools starting at 7:05 a.m., Metro Nashville students start the school day earlier than almost any other area in Middle Tennessee.
O’Connell has advocated for later start times even as a city council member, prior to being elected as mayor. He is looking for a way to do that effectively, but he says logistics have to be worked out before they can change start times.
“There are questions of safety, but there are also questions of logistics and we want to get all of those things answered,” O’Connell told Fox 17 News.
Metro Nashville Schools say they have been looking into a change in start times, but they need to complete the transition of their fifth-grade classes back to elementary schools before beginning that process.
“I think once we complete that process, it will give us an opportunity to reevaluate all of that landscape of school bus routes, start times, all of that,” said O’Connell.
O’Connell also noted that safer street routes was another factor that he wanted to “return to a focus on.” Council member Erin Evans commented that Hermitage was in need of upgrading, specifically with better lighting.
The city finished up a survey on November 30 that allowed residents to vote for the projects that they felt were most important. Results from that survey should be released in the next few weeks. Implementation of the selected proposals will begin in January.
4 Responses
Logistics = Excuse-istics. Make the change to protect the kids!
This start time is so the 2 income families have complete coverage for their kids needing free daycare!! Schools never used to start this early!! It’s insane. If you don’t want to raise your kids don’t have them! I was home for twenty years with mine, always there when they got off and on their bus.
Every entity should have summer and winter hours. Not doing so is STUPID.
What kind of Parents let their Children walk to school these days anyway especially at 6:20 a.m.