This is so terribly awful

I feel very sad for the family and for the driver, herself a staff member at the very school the girl attended before going on to middle school, who says she didn't see the girl, who was in the crosswalk, due to the sun hitting her eyes. Contributions for funeral costs can be made through Kerr Brothers Funeral Home on Main Street or can be donated to the "Payton Griffith Memorial Fund" set up at 5/3 Bank.

Students, Staff Mourn Classmate Hit By Car

It was a tough day for students and staff at a Lexington middle school as they mourned one of their classmates.

12-year-old Payton Griffith was hit by a car Wednesday afternoon while in a crosswalk on Auburn Drive at Eastland Parkway. She was pronounced dead at UK Hospital.

"We would all be lucky to have a child like Payton," described an emotional Lester Diaz, the principal at Bryan Station Middle School, where Payton was a sixth grader. "It's a devastating loss. We're all suffering and grieving."

Principal Diaz described Payton as a straight "A" student who loved math and dreamed of becoming a school teacher.

The flag at Bryan Station Middle flew at half-staff in honor of the 12-year-old. Children wrote cards to her family and grief counselors were there to help.

"Some kids came in with a heavy heart. Some kids didn't come in at all," Principal Diaz said. "When our teachers addressed the school, and that seat was empty in the classroom, and the kids looked around and it registered, then they were devastated and needed the support."