School Bus Driver Suspended After Car Hits Boy In Worcester
WORCESTER (CBS) – A five-year-old Worcester boy hit by a car while getting off a school bus Monday afternoon is recovering.
Several people who saw it happen rushed to help the boy. The bus driver has been suspended.
Krista Nelson says she felt powerless as she kneeled down on busy Hamilton Street to do what she could for the young boy badly in need of help.
"There was a car parked right here and his head was just laying against the car that was here," Nelson said.
"At first his eyes were closed and he was not alert at all and we just kept talking to him, saying, 'open your eyes, open your eyes.' He did open his eyes and then he was trying to get up. And we just said, 'stay where you are. Don't move. Don't move.'"
"He had an egg on his head the size of half a baseball and he was bleeding from the mouth," Ron Messier said. "It was an awful sight."
Worcester Police say a car hit the boy Monday afternoon after he got off his school bus alone.
It shouldn't have happened. The Abby Kelley Charter School admits that much, telling WBZ it's against school policy. Students are supposed to be picked up by a parent or guardian. The bus company says its driver thought an adult at the bus stop was the boy's parent.
"There's no excuse for that," said Messier.
School officials say the boy is expected to recover. Welcome news for several good Samaritans grateful they were present when a child needed them the most.
"As far as I'm concerned, no little kid should be getting off the bus without someone there to get him, especially on a street like this this," said Nelson.
Police say the boy suffered a broken leg and minor head trauma. The driver that hit the boy stopped and has not been cited.
