Sumner County School Officials Deny Part in Wrongful Death

By Thomas Greer | March 25, 2012

A Tennessee wrongful death lawsuit filed December 9, 2011, named the Sumner County Board of Education as partly responsible for the death of Alexis Thomson, 9, in March 2011. The Board denies any part in the tragedy.

Alexis, a third-grader at Benny Bills Elementary, was killed in a fatal car crash after school last March when her stepfather picked her up from school at 4:00 p.m. Her mother, Christina McDonald, filed the suit.

The stepfather, Dusty McDonald, had allegedly been drinking all day and crashed his 1984 Chevy pickup an hour after picking her up. The suit alleges that the school officials were aware that he was not on the approved transportation list, but released the girl anyway.

The crash occurred on Whitson Road, near Bethpage, when the pickup McDonald was driving hit a tree. McDonald fled the scene, leaving Alexis Thompson trapped inside the vehicle with serious injuries. She was pronounced dead at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin.

McDonald has pled guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving a death and driving on a revoked license for the fifth time. He was subsequently sentenced to prison for 22 years.

According to this latest lawsuit, Jennifer Hille, the leader of the school’s Unity program, allegedly detected the alcohol on McDonald, but released the girl to him, calling the police after doing so.

The Unity afterschool program specifies that only people who are pre-authorized can pick children up. Also, the policy includes a rule that anyone suspected of being intoxicated will be sent away and another approved adult called to come for the child.

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