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Parents and students urge felony penalties, engineering fixes after student’s death; committee hears ‘Aspen’s Law’ testimony
Summary
Multiple families and Western Hills students urged the House Judiciary Committee to strengthen penalties and improve engineering and signage in school zones after the death of 15-year-old Aspen; sponsors and members discussed targeted infrastructure, signage, rumble strips, and the balance between sentencing and preventive measures.
The House Judiciary Committee heard emotional sponsor and proponent testimony on House Bill 203, which would increase penalties for reckless or distracted driving in school zones following the death of 15-year-old Aspen Runnels.
Christina Alcorn, who identified herself as the mother of Aspen Runnels, described the May 2024 crash that killed her son while he used a marked crosswalk in an active school zone. She said the driver “was speeding in a school zone” and “made no attempt to slow down or stop,” and that prosecutors told her the case was likely to be charged only as a misdemeanor. Alcorn said she and co-sponsor Tricia Parnell drafted the bill after determining current law treats some school-zone incidents less severely than comparable construction-zone crimes.
Tricia Parnell and Maddie Bair, whose daughter Madison Bair was struck in a different…
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