St. Pete Crossing Guard’s Death Prompts Benefit’s Launch

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — David Roundtree was setting up his safety zone near Mount Vernon Elementary School before Tuesday afternoon’s dismissal; a task he’d performed many times in the past. It was around 2:35 p.m. when the unthinkable happened.

St. Petersburg Police say Charles Hunter Walton, 21, was heading west on 9th Avenue North in a Toyota Scion at that time. As Roundtree, a popular school crossing guard was setting up his cones, Walton struck a pickup truck and then crashed into the man.

Walton’s Scion continued on, hitting a school zone sign and a small tree before eventually stopping, police wrote in a Nov. 8 email to media.

Roundtree died shortly afterwards at a local hospital. The 72-year-old was “known well by the officers in the department as always smiling and waving,” the Sun Coast Police Benevolent Association wrote in a post on Facebook.

Roundtree worked at St. Petersburg High School from 1974 to 2006. After retiring, “Mr. Roundtree decided he wasn’t finished serving his community when he told his wife he wanted to become a crossing guard to protect the children going and coming from school,” the post noted. “He was a well-loved crossing guard at the school for the past three years.”

To honor Roundtree’s memory and help his family, the association has opened a memorial fund through Wells Fargo Bank. The account is in the name of “Sun Coast Law Enforcement Charities – David Roundtree Fund.”

“Mr. Roundtree represents the true spirit of public service and providing for our community, and we hope his legacy inspires more to ‘answer the call to serve,’” the association said.

Donations to benefit Roundtree’s family may also be made via PayPal by following this link.

Walton was ultimately charged with DUI manslaughter, according to St. Petersburg Police.

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