A Bartlett crossing guard and a child were injured Thursday afternoon when a vehicle hit them at the intersection of Kirby Whitten Road and Dawnhill Road, according to Bartlett police. The crash was reported just before 3:15 p.m., and both were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Officials have not yet released how serious their injuries are.
Police: Driver Tested At Scene
According to FOX13 Memphis, the video sent to the station appears to show a man being given a field sobriety test by Bartlett officers as investigators worked the crash scene. The station reported that the department said the collision remains under investigation and confirmed the injured child and crossing guard were taken to the hospital.
Intersection Sits On A High-Crash Corridor
That stretch of Kirby Whitten has been flagged in regional data as one of the Mid-South's more dangerous arterials. A Stage Road and Kirby Whitten recorded 229 crashes from 2021 to 2024, according to a review of Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization records, and the MPO's Mid-South Safety Action Plan lays out engineering and enforcement fixes for high-crash corridors.
Investigation And What A Sobriety Test Means
FOX13 Memphis reported it had reached out to the Bartlett Police Department for additional comment but had not yet heard back. Under Tennessee law, drivers are generally subject to implied-consent rules that allow officers to seek chemical testing when there is probable cause; field sobriety tests are typically used to help establish that probable cause, and any charges would be decided after the investigation. Decisions discussed on Justia outline how Tennessee's implied-consent rules are applied in crash investigations.
Officials Are Weighing Fixes
Local leaders and traffic planners have pushed engineering changes such as medians, adjusted turn lanes, improved lighting and signal timing at crash-prone intersections in Bartlett to reduce injuries, officials told reporters. The new crash underscores those safety concerns and the MPO's plan for targeted fixes at hotspots across the region, as reported in a plan for targeted fixes at hotspots.
