Thread: NC: School speaks of Marcus Lassiter hit and run

Brian Haney
Daily Record Reporter

A 7-year-old boy who was critically injured in a hit-and-run accident in Four Oaks Sunday evening has died, his family said Tuesday.

The family made the decision to remove Marcus Lassiter from life support, and he died late Monday night. He had been previously declared brain dead after being taken by helicopter to Duke University Hospital following the accident.

Marcus attended Cooper Elementary School in Clayton where he was in Kathryn Mundt's first-grade class.

Mrs. Mundt said Marcus "was a sweet little boy. He had the best smile in the world. He would walk in and just flash his crooked smile from his missing teeth and just let you know that he was there and it was going to be a good day.

"He was very funny," she said, "and was cracking jokes all the time with the kids."

Mrs. Mundt said Marcus did good impressions and whenever one of his classmates was sad he would immediately cheer them up with his famous "granddaddy walk."

Mrs. Mundt also recalled Marcus "was a fantastic runner, the fastest kid in my class. He loved to run and to have the freedom of being able to move as fast as he could whenever he wanted to."

According to Mrs. Mundt, Marcus' classmates are all dealing with his death differently.

"Depending on their experiences with death, some of them don't really get the finality of it," she said. "They are upset that he is not coming back to our classroom."

She said students did not want her to take Marcus' desk down or take his name tag off of anything, wanting to keep his presence in the room for the rest of the school year.

School Principal Dr. Julie Jailall said she had seen Marcus and chatted with him at school.

"When I would pass him in the hallway, going through the cafeteria or to his classroom, I would wave at him and he would see me and wave at me and call me by name, and I knew him by name," she said.

"He was very sociable and sweet, never got into any trouble at all," Dr. Jailall said. "I've known him to be a child that got along well with everybody. He was a very good kid."

Dr. Jailall said the school is trying to help Marcus' classmates with their grief.

"They are only first-graders and don't necessarily understand what passing away means," she said. "We are very cognizant of their needs. We had counselors, psychologists and school nurses who have visited us from other schools and have created a crisis room in case we have students who would like to grieve separately.

"We, as a school, have done everything we possibly can to assist, support and try our best to comfort. We are trying to be proactive," she said.

Honoring Marcus

Cooper Elementary is holding an assembly today for the entire school. Students will recite poetry in Marcus' honor and design cards to express their feelings. The entire school will also wear blue, Marcus's favorite color.

Additionally, Mrs. Mundt said, "We are going to plant a tree on the campus tomorrow and we will plant a little blue bush (in his memory)."

Students are also making beaded necklaces to sell for a dollar apiece. Proceeds will go to Marcus' family.

Suspect Update

Meanwhile, the man accused in the hit-and-run, Pollo Hernandez Rodriguez, could now face additional charges.

Sgt. J.L. Gaskins of the Johnston County Highway Patrol, the lead officer investigating Mr. Rodriguez's status, said he met with immigrations and customs officials Tuesday afternoon to determine if Mr. Rodriguez provided his real name to police and if he is a legal resident of the United States.

This morning, the News & Observer of Raleigh reported that the suspect had given a false name to police. However the Highway Patrol has not released the man's true identity nor if he is in the country legally. He may be charged with second-degree murder, the report said.

http://www.dunndailyrecord.com/main.asp ... M=53036.16

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