By Lori EhdeA Luverne second-grader is recuperating home this week after being struck by a 1993 Pontiac Grand Am Sunday in the crosswalk at Main Street and Highway 75.According to the accident report, 7-year-old Cole Walgrave was at the southwest corner of the intersection on his inline skates and crossed Highway 75 to the east when the light turned green.At that time, shortly after 5 p.m., 17-year-old Jesse Dean Lafrenz made a left-hand turn from Main Street south on Highway 75, striking Cole in the crosswalk.According to an eye witness at the scene, Lafrenz was distracted by activity behind him and kept driving."He didn’t even realize he had hit someone," said Cole Walgrave’s father, Tim Walgrave.A witness reportedly hollered and flagged down Lafrenz who eventually stopped."Cole told me he didn’t even see the car, and next thing he knew he was laying up against the curb," Tim said.Cole was treated at Luverne Community Hospital and evaluated at Sioux Valley in Sioux Falls. Doctors discovered a fracture in his lower pelvis near the tail bone, and Tim said as of Tuesday Cole couldn’t put weight on his legs without pain.It will likely be next week before he can consider returning to Luverne Elementary School where he is a second-grader."He can’t even move one leg now," Tim said, adding that the whole ordeal will likely teach Cole a new respect for caution at crosswalks."I think he’ll remember that for a long time," Tim said. "We all take for granted when the light turns green we can just go."Lafrenz was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian.
