An 11-year-old girl died on Thursday after being struck by a school bus as she crossed a street in Brooklyn, according to the Police Department.
The driver, whom the police identified as Wawa Aurelus, 62, was accused of leaving the scene after the collision. He faces misdemeanor charges, including failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.
The episode happened at about 3 p.m. on Thursday, when many students are traveling home after school dismissal.
The girl, Amira Aminova, had been waiting at the edge of a typically busy intersection in the Bath Beach neighborhood, according to surveillance video. As the pedestrian signal turned from a walk sign to a flashing red hand with a countdown timer, she started running across the crosswalk.
The bus driver appeared to have a green light, and he began to make a right turn. By then, the girl was halfway through the intersection.
She attempted to continue running around the bus as it failed to yield, but was struck. She was less than 200 feet away from her home, according to the police.
The police said she suffered severe injuries to her head and body. She was taken to Maimonides Medical Center in the in Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, where she was pronounced dead.
Mr. Aurelus was issued a desk appearance ticket, and he is expected to appear in court on Feb. 24. It was not immediately clear whether he had legal representation.
Arturo Craveoto, a bodega worker in the neighborhood, said that the 11-year-old had just exited the store where he works before she was struck. He rushed outside after witnessing the collision. The bus had already left the scene. Mr. Craveoto said that a nurse who was walking by performed CPR on the girl before an ambulance arrived.
The girl had been a frequent patron of the bodega.
“She came here every day,” Mr. Craveoto said. “Like a home.”
It was unclear if the girl was a public school student, and the city’s Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. By Friday, neighbors had erected a memorial and placed flowers at the intersection where she was killed.
The collision recalled other episodes in recent years in which children were killed after being struck by school buses. Four years ago, a 15-year-old girl in the Midwood neighborhood in Brooklyn died after she was hit. The bus driver, who fled the scene, told the police at the time that he did not know he had struck her.
And in 2020, a 10-year-old girl was killed in East New York, also in Brooklyn, while she was in the crosswalk and a bus driver made a right turn.
Since 2014, when New York began its Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities, at least 27 children have been killed on city streets while walking to or from school, data from Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group that tracks the fatalities, shows.
Still, streets overall have become safer: There were 206 traffic fatalities last year, which tied for the lowest number since record-keeping began in 1910, according to Transportation Alternatives.
Stephen T. Chan, a state senator who represents Bath Beach, said on social media that he was heartbroken by the child’s death. He said that visibility at the intersection was clear and that snow did not appear to be a factor in the collision.
“Drivers — please use extra caution. Slow down,” Mr. Chan said. “Please everyone, be careful.”
Angelina Katsanis contributed reporting. Georgia Gee contributed research.
Troy Closson is a Times education reporter focusing on K-12 schools.
The post 11-Year-Old Girl Struck and Killed by School Bus in Brooklyn appeared first on New York Times.
