Hit and run update - 7.16.07

Two months after Jonathan Scruggs was killed by a hit and run driver, spray paint marks still remain. Photo by Jeff Melton.

It's about 1:30. The grand jury is meeting in the Cleveland County Law Enforcement Center. Currently they are at lunch. I've been told that the Johnathon Scruggs' case will be presented to the grand jury today.


I went out to the scene of the hit and run this morning. Shattered glass and spray paint labeling where Scruggs' shoe landed still mark the spot on Caleb Road where he was struck and killed by a hit and run driver as he walked home from work last May.

Scruggs was found laying in a ditch near his Caleb Road home on May 23 by his father and younger brother, who decided to go look for him after he failed to return home after work and school.

The 18-year-old with Asperger’s Disease (mild autism)had just finished his first day of school at Cleveland Community College and his first day of work at the Five Guys restaurant in the Cleveland Mall. Scruggs got done his shift early at the restaurant and decided to walk home.

Troopers say a red 1998 Saturn, driven by White, struck Scruggs from behind. The wreck report states White was driving 60 miles per hour in a 45-mph zone. The impact smashed the right side of the car and windshield and sent Scruggs flying with him landing 67 feet from the point of impact.

Troopers said White told them hit thought he hit a mailbox or deer.