An off-duty NYPD officer saved the lives a bus driver and aide, dragging them from the wreckage of a burning school bus. The bus erupted in flames after a collision with a tractor-trailer along the Long Island Expressway. The officer witnessed the accident and pulled his vehicle to the shoulder of the highway when he saw the bus engulfed in flames and smoke. He pried open the door to the bus to find the driver pinned and the aide was nowhere to be found, lost in the smoke. The officer called to the aide, telling her walk toward the sound of his voice, and met the aide halfway down the aisle. After clearing the aide to safety, the officer wrenched the driver free through the driver’s side door, rescuing him from the fiery vehicle.
Proving that he was absent the day that he should have been taught it was wrong to harm children, a 44-year-old school bus aide is behind bars after allegedly assaulting a middle school student on two separate occasions. As police reported, the aide had a problem with how the child was sitting/laying in the seat, which led to a verbal argument. This escalated to the aide twisting the student’s arm and placing a knee on the student’s head. The aide also slammed the victim against the side of the bus with his forearm against the victim’s head. At the time of the incidents, other students were on the bus. Since there were no visible injuries, the student did not seek medical treatment. The aide was arrested on charges of third degree child abuse. “Upon reviewing evidence and reviewing this situation, it’s very disappointing,” said the superintendent.
A Michigan senator has introduced a bill that supports state legislation to increase fines and penalties for motorists who fail to stop for school buses. Since ignorance appears to be a long-lost disease, the state senator claimed this bill will “send a strong message” to remind drivers that they are supposed to stop when the bus driver comes to a complete stop and activates the red, flashing lights. “It reminds people there’s a child at hand. We’ve had a number of incidents where people race around. They’re in a hurry. Sometimes children don’t look. They run across the street. The view of a child is obscured by the size of the bus,” said the senator. There are 18,000 buses statewide that transport 860,000 students on a daily basis.
The strange death of a young man who died after he was run over by a school bus transporting elementary students has left many wondering whether the tragic incident was suicide or a dreadful accident. Police reported that the young man crawled under a stopped school bus, lay down in front of the left rear tire and was crushed as the bus resumed driving. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital. A witness, however, has come forward claiming the young man was reaching for keys that fell by the school bus tires and in retrieving them he was run over. Relatives have cautioned that the witness may be unreliable and they are waiting for the results of the investigation before settling on a definite conclusion. According to those close to him, the young man suffered from depression and was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was prescribed medication, but it was unclear if he was taking it. “After all these years, it is hard for me to accept that he was suicidal and that this is the way that he would go about that. If I had to say deep down what do I honestly think happened, I would hope that it was the latter, that he went to retrieve the keys,” said the victim’s aunt.
