Bartow County school board member Angela Cornett accused of running SUV into teen

Authorities in Bartow County arrested a school board member after she allegedly hit a teenage girl with her car.

Bartow County sheriff's investigators have released surveillance video from incident, which occurred in the parking lot of a Walmart in Cartersville. The footage appears to show a car striking a person holding a parking space.

Authorities say that driver was Bartow County school board member Angela Coett and the person trying to hold the space was a 17-year-old Adairsville High School student. Officials said that words were exchanged between the two before the incident.

Impatient: Georgia school board member Angela Coett was arrested after allegedly hitting a 17-year-old girl with her SUV in a fight over a parking space

"The deputy on the scene actually went and watched the video before he made any charges against Miss Coett and from watching the video, it's obvious that the pedestrian was standing there when the vehicle lurched forward and has to move out of the way very quickly.  You can't tell close-up how she was struck or exactly how hard she was struck, but you can see she was standing there when the vehicle lurched forward," said Bartow County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Jonathan Rogers.
 
Investigators say the teen's pants had a black mark on them allegedly from the tires of the board member's Lexus. That and the surveillance video prompted authorities to charge Coett with reckless conduct.

Under fire: Facing public criticism following her arrest, Coett resigned from the school board Thursday

The teen told authorities she was holding the space for a friend who recently gave birth and couldn't walk very far.

Wanda Cagle-Gray, a former school board member, said that she believes Coett's alleged behavior was disgraceful and not what young people need to see from adults in the county.
 
"Totally unnecessary, totally uncalled for, We are elected officials to represent the children, parents and taxpayers of Bartow County," said Cagle-Gray.

Authorities said that additional charges could be pending against Coett.

Coett has been released on bail. Her attoey, John Mroczko, released a statement saying, "Mrs. Coett regrets this unfortunate incident occurred.  However, she strongly denies the allegations that have been made against her.  Mrs. Coett was going to Wal-Mart with her daughter this past Friday and was going to park her vehicle in a parking space next to the buggy retu.  A young lady was standing in the front of the buggy retu when Mrs. Coett tued her car and entered the parking space.  Unfortunately, the young lady stepped forward into Mrs. Coett's vehicle in what it was later leaed to block the parking space.  As soon as the young lady stepped toward Mrs. Coett's vehicle, Mrs. Coett immediately stopped her vehicle.   The young lady was not hurt.  Mrs. Coett regrets the incident occurred and wishes nothing but the best for the young lady involved. "