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<\/p>\n“Right now prayers have been answered by the grace of God, and she is stable,” Sherri Hamilton’s granddaughter, Morgan Dallmann said.<\/p>\n
ORANGE PARK, Fla. \u2014 An Orange Park crossing guard who has helped generations of children safely cross the street near Grove Park Elementary School is in the hospital after police say she was struck by a vehicle while stopping traffic Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
Sherri Hamilton was actively stopping traffic on Miller Street when a vehicle turning southbound onto Miller Street from Gano Avenue struck her, according to the Orange Park Police Department.<\/p>\n
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Police said Hamilton was wearing a high-visibility traffic vest and holding a stop sign at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n
The driver immediately stopped and is cooperating with the investigation, police said. The crash remains under investigation.<\/p>\n
Hamilton was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries.<\/p>\n
Her granddaughter, Morgan Dallmann, said Hamilton has injuries to her head, ribs and back and underwent two surgeries after doctors worked to address swelling in her brain.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is my person I go to if I need to vent about just how my day is going,\u201d Dallmann said. \u201cTuesday was a day I don\u2019t want to have to relive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dallmann said she and her grandmother normally talk every day, but she had not heard Hamilton\u2019s voice in the days after the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese last four days have been rough because I have not heard her voice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hamilton is stable, Dallmann said, but her family expects her recovery to take months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a race, it\u2019s a marathon,\u201d Dallmann said. \u201cWe have either six months to a year of recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more than two decades, Hamilton has been a familiar face outside Grove Park Elementary, where her family said she knew students and parents by name.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did it for the love of the children,\u201d Dallmann said. \u201cShe knew every child that walked past, and she could tell you what child was absent that day. She did it with love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dallman also noted that her family is not angry with the driver and is praying for the person involved in the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine what that individual is going through,\u201d she said. \u201cThey need the prayers just like we need the prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Dallmann said the family is focusing on Hamilton\u2019s recovery and the support pouring in from the community.<\/p>\n
Prayer chains have formed in 14 states, and Dallmann said community members have shared memories of Hamilton as their crossing guard.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see some people saying, \u2018She was my crossing guard,\u2019 and I\u2019m 30 years old now \u2026 to know that she made an impact on them, it\u2019s very warming,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s helping us through this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dallmann and other family members are now traveling from Louisiana to Florida to be with Hamilton.<\/p>\n
In an updated statement, Orange Park police said Hamilton remains hospitalized and is recovering from her injuries. The department said it plans to provide additional updates when information can be released.<\/p>\n
Police urged drivers to slow down, stay alert and use extra caution around school zones, crosswalks and crossing guards.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur crossing guards put their own safety on the line each day to help ensure our children make it safely across our roadways,\u201d the department said in its statement. \u201cA few extra seconds of patience can make all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clay County District Schools said Hamilton is a crossing guard provided by the Orange Park Police Department.<\/p>\n
The school district said it deployed its District Crisis Team, including additional counselors, to Grove Park Elementary on Tuesday to help any students or staff members who witnessed the crash or needed immediate support. The school continues to have counseling staff available on campus, the district said.<\/p>\n
Clay County schools also urged motorists to slow down, eliminate distractions and pay close attention in school zones and near campuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Right now prayers have been answered by the grace of God, and she is stable,” Sherri Hamilton’s granddaughter,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-379485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}