A sea of red paraded through the halls of Timber Creek as the school united as one on March 22 to honor sophomore Aaron Lancaster who was hospitalized after a hit-and-run collision.
Lancaster was walking home from one act play rehearsals around 8 p.m. Sunday night when a car hit him and fled the scene, leaving Lancaster on the side of the road, sustaining a broken leg and head trauma. According to the Fort Worth Police Department, a witness stated that they saw Lancaster press the button to activate the lights signaling a pedestrian on the crosswalk before crossing at Alta Vista Rd. and Funnel St. The witness continued to say that a light colored vehicle struck Lancaster at a high speed and promptly left the location.
The news of this event spread quickly as fellow students took to social media platforms such as Twitter to show their support for Aaron and his family. What started with close friends in the theatre department soon spread to students not just at Timber Creek, but multiple local schools, all sharing how wonderful a person Lancaster is and that they hope for him to recover quickly.
Support flowed in using the hashtag #PrayersForAaron (see messages with that hashtag in the Twitter widget below)
“Aaron Lancaster is one of the greatest men I know, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers tonight. He’d do the same for any of you.” Trevor Shoemaker posted on Twitter.
To further emphasize their love for Lancaster, everyone came together and decided to wear red to school in honor of Lancaster’s favorite play, “Red” by John Logan. The massive turnout was an inspiring occurrence to everyone and just goes to show how loving the Timber Creek community is and that it is important to show our love when it is most needed.
“I’ve never seen the student body participate so much in something like this, ever,” said senior Lizzy Shugert. “The fact that everyone came together to show their love is amazing.”
Intersection Still Poses Dangers to Students
The scene of the hit-and-run collision has posed dangers to students before this latest incident.
In Dec. 2014, a 13-year-old student was hit and transported by CareFlite. No charges were pressed against the driver who stayed on scene. At the time of the incident, people around the neighborhood wanted change.
At the time the first incident residents were promised “safety upgrades” and they are solar-powered lights where there is a button on both sides and the middle so they can flash when a person hits the button to slow traffic. The total cost was $13,000.
In January of 2015 the flashing lights were installed, but issues have continued at the intersection.
In Oct. 2015, a 15-year-old riding a bike was hit by a car and suffered road burns and a broken ankle. The 16-year-old that hit the victim stayed on the scene and was not charged. The family of that victim told the Fort Worth Police Department they were okay with the kid not being charged, but repeated calls from other residents to have a stoplight installed in the intersection.
Traffic light costs range from $80,000 to $100,000 and must meet nine requirements stated by Section 4C.01 in the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. Section 1A.11 in the AAA Safety Patrol Operation Manuel says that an authorized professional, such as a police officer or traffic control officer, can stand at the intersection and watch if there are a minimum of 20 students at the highest point of the day for a traffic light to even be considered.
Organizations Raising Funds to Help Lancaster Family
Timber Creek’s PTSA is hosting a quarter drive for the Lancaster family to help with this hardship they are enduring.
These donations will help them with meals at the hospital cafeteria or meals from the vending machines at the hospital. There will be two donation buckets located in the AP office and in the Counseling office for the remainder of this week.
Timber Creek Theatre is also raising money for the Lancasters by asking for donations during their April 7 public performance of their 2017 UIL One Act Play “Ugly Lies the Bones,” of which Aaron Lancaster was an alternate cast member.
Finally, a GoFundMe for the Lancaster family has been established by other TCHS theatre parents. Use the following link to share your monetary support: http://www.gofundme.com/fundsforaaron
Multiple Timber Creek Talon reporters, including Ashley Nagel and Tabitha Tomlinson contributed to this report.