A Montgomery Police vehicle crashed into a Montgomery Academy student’s vehicle on Wednesday.
Montgomery Academy head of school John McWilliams said a police vehicle struck the vehicle of a student as the student was leaving the parking lot.
McWilliams wrote in an email to parents on Wednesday, “I am writing this evening to provide you all with more information about the circumstances surrounding the car accident that happened this afternoon in front of the Vaughn Road Campus. A police vehicle en route to a call struck the vehicle of one of our students as the student was exiting the parking lot.”
“As our text message alert indicated, thankfully everyone involved in the accident was okay, but it was still a very scary situation for our students, faculty, and parents as they watched the incident unfold and its aftermath. In addition, there were concerning reports that some heard gunshots in the area that seemed to explain why the officer was in the immediate vicinity of our campus at the time. These reports warranted our investigating what happened so that we could present the facts to all of you,” he added in the email.
McWilliams continued, “I spoke personally with Chief Grayboys from the Montgomery Police Department this evening. He was able to share with me that officers in the area were responding to a report that there had been shots fired between two vehicles driving near the intersection of Carter Hill and Zelda Road. By the time that the officers arrived on the scene, they were unable to identify any victims, and the vehicles were no longer in the area. He said that MPD is continuing to investigate the situation, and he would let me know if there was any additional information that the school needed to know. He also assured me that if officers at the scene had believed that there had been any immediate threat to our students or to our campus, the officers would have instructed our students, faculty, and administrators to take cover.”
“Our security officer on the Vaughn Road Campus this afternoon responded immediately to the situation, checked on the occupants of the vehicles, and assisted with traffic control until MPD established full control of the accident scene. When I learned of reports of individuals hearing shots prior to the crash, I immediately checked with our SRO and he had not heard anything about that report in the radio traffic nor had MPD informed him of anything related to possible gunfire. I was not able to confirm any official information about the report of shots in the area until this evening,” McWilliams said. “Obviously, any incident like this in the area surrounding our campus is very concerning. Student safety is our highest priority. While there is no indication that the school was a target in the incident that occurred, we will ensure that our security officers are fully briefed on what happened in the days to come, and we’ll ask them to increase their vigilance around campus.”
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