Crime & Safety

School Board Member Arrested After Allegedly Striking Student with SUV

Following the incident in the parking lot of the Cartersville Walmart, Bartow County school board vice chairman, Angie Cornett, was jailed on a misdemeanor charge of reckless conduct.

Updated Sunday, Dec. 30

In an interview with The Daily Tribune News, Cornett called the charge "bogus."

Cornett told the newspaper she was halfway in the parking spot when the teen leaned into and up against her vehicle.

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"I was at a standstill at that point because when I saw her I stopped," Cornett told the Tribune. "I backed out and got into the parking space across from it and called the police. ... The ambulance came, she refused medical treatment—there was nothing wrong with her, and in fact, afterwards she walked into the Walmart laughing and continues her shopping."

Cartersville Patch asked Cornett to comment via email and Facebook, but has not received a response.

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Original Report

A Bartow County Board of Education representative at the center of an ethics complaint was jailed Friday following an apparently unrelated incident in the parking lot of the Cartersville Walmart.

Angela "Angie" Gail Cornett, 41, who serves as District 3 rep and vice chairman, is accused of striking with her vehicle an Adairsville High School student, 17. Here's what happened, according to the Bartow County Sheriff's Office incident report, attached:

Deputies responded to an approximate 2:30 p.m. call about the teen, a senior in high school, who said she had been struck by a white SUV in the parking lot. She told authorities she was standing with a buggy in an empty parking spot—saving the space for her brother's girlfriend, who had recently given birth—when Cornett, driving her SUV, approached and yelled for her to move.

The teen said she told Cornett she was saving the space, but Cornett accelerated her 2007 Lexus GX470 and hit the girl's right leg with the front, passenger tire of the vehicle. While her leg was caught in the tread of the tire, Cornett captured photographs and videos of the teen, she said, according to the report. The teen said she yelled for help, then called 911.

Cornett told authorities she told the teen to move, then started to pull into the parking space, at which time the girl "leaned against her vehicle and started to yell, 'She hit me,'" according to the report. Cornett confirmed she was taking pictures and videos of the teen with a cell phone.

Intending to fight the charge, Cornett told WBHF-AM 1450 the teen leaned against her vehicle, transferring dirt to the girl's pants and resulting in her arrest.

Walmart security footage indicates the teen was "struck by the vehicle" and that "she [was] physically moved by the force of the vehicle," according to the deputy's report. "The SUV stops and remains stopped for several moments. The SUV then backs out of the parking space, pulls back in partially, and backs out again.

"From observing the video and the marks on [the girl's] leg, it was evident that the Lexus being driven by Angela was used with such velocity that it obviously endangered the bodily safety of [the teen]," the deputy wrote. "Angela consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk by striking [the teen] with her vehicle, which constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the same situation."

Cornett, who was arrested and charged with reckless conduct, a misdemeanor, listed her occupation as a Bartow County court reporter. She was bonded out of jail on Friday, The Daily Tribune News reports.

The mother of two, ages 16 and 12, according to her Facebook profile, Cornett was elected and took office about two years ago. The school system's second ethics complaint of 2012 focuses in part on her public comments about a school system employee in response to the publication of alleged communications between board members on the website, bartowforabetterboe.com.

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Related Content

  • Ethics Complaint Filed Against School Board Member
  • Parent to School Board: 'Embarrassed' by Member's Actions

For more on Bartow Schools, see our dedicated section: Bartow County Schools: Budget, Board and More.

 


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