A teenage boy drove the pickup truck that struck and killed City Councilman Michael Schiff’s wife, Jan, on Saturday as she was crossing Sweetwater Boulevard, city officials say.
| Jan Schiff |
At a Sunday afternoon press conference at Sugar Land City Hall, Mayor David Wallace and Police Chief Steve Griffith said the boy was driving a 2007 Ford F-150 pickup south on Sweetwater, and had stopped at a traffic light at Greystone Way at about 3:50 p.m. Saturday.
Griffith said witnesses told investigators Jan Schiff was already in the crosswalk jogging across Sweetwater when the light changed and the boy drove his truck forward, striking her.
“When the light turned green, the 17-year-old Sugar Land driver proceeded into the intersection, where Jan Schiff was struck,” Wallace said, reading from a statement. He added that no charges have been filed against the boy.
Griffith said the police department won’t release the names of the driver or witnesses to the accident, because the case still is under investigation.
According to a statement released by the City of Sugar Land on Saturday night, Jan Schiff was flown by helicopter to Memorial Hermann Hospital after the accident. She later died there of her injuries.
Mayor Wallace was with Michael Schiff at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, and said at the time the councilman was seeing his rabbi and family members and is “obviously very, very shaken up at his loss, as is the entire community.” He said Michael Schiff had called his daighter, Laura, in Panama, and his son, David, in Seattle, to tell them of their mother’s death.
Wallace spoke on behalf of the family at Sunday’s news conference. “Jan Schiff was loved by this community. She always put others ahead of herself,” the mayor said. “The love and devotion she has shared with others will truly be missed.”
Wallace said Michael Schiff was “very gratified for the outpouring of prayers” from people responding to the tragedy. “We would ask for you to continue to pray,” Wallace said, to help the Schiff family “get through these difficult times.”
Jan Schiff was Partners In Education and public schools volunteer coordinator for Fort Bend Independent School District, a past chair of the Literacy Council of Fort Bend County, a member of the Ford Bend Education Foundation and associated with numerous charitable organizations.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, at Congregation Beth Israel, at 5600 North Braeswood in Houston. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be sent in Jan Schiff’s name to Fort Bend Education Foundation (16431 Lexington Blvd. Sugar Land, TX 77479), Congregation Beth Israel (5600 N. Braeswood, Houston, TX 77096), or the Literacy Council of Fort Bend County (12530 Emily Court, Sugar Land, TX 77478).
