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Police Seek Driver Who Sped By Mom, Daughter Getting Off School Bus

MILLBURY (CBS) – Police are trying to track down the speeding driver who nearly hit a mother getting her child off the bus in Millbury.

Millbury Police Chief Donald Desorcy said investigators are narrowing the search for the driver and he also hopes a shocking video will catch the attention of viewers.

In the dash-cam video, the school bus driver lays on his horn, alerting a mother and her 7-year-old daughter about an oncoming car that showed no signs of slowing down.

Millbury bus
A SUV speeds past a mother and daughter crossing a Millbury road in front of a school bus (WBZ-TV)

"If you're going to drive the car, drive the car, go from Point A to Point B. Is that asking too much? How can you miss a school bus?" Desorcy said.

Witnesses believe the person behind the wheel was texting at the time and never saw the stop sign from the school bus.

Police are now closely reviewing the video in hopes of finding the driver, who they are asking to come forward.

"The video is not clear enough to ID exactly the license plate, but we were able to determine the type of vehicle," Desorcy said. "Through the Registry of Motor Vehicles, we are narrowing the search pretty quickly."

The chief says if the bus driver hadn't honked his horn, this close call could have turned out much differently.

"Get off the phone. It's going to make life a lot better for everyone," Desorcy said.

The bus driver, Steve, says unfortunately he sees distracted drivers every single day; but this is the worst case he's ever witnessed.

"I just looked at Steve and I was just bawling," said the girl's mother, Ashley Makridakis. "I was just holding Lyla and bawling. Thank you for paying attention and warning us."

Steve slammed his horn, to alert Ashley and Lyla of that SUV that would miss them by just a few feet. Mom wasn't the only one who felt like crying.

"Kind of like scared, and like uncomfortable," said Lyla, 7.

The bus driver could see a woman on her phone; she never even slowed down.

"I had such an adrenaline surge after I realized a car almost hit us, that I literally contemplated for one second chasing down the car," Makridakis said.

But there was no catching that speeding vehicle; in fact, police told Ashley it was traveling so quickly, their software can't decipher the license plate. That leaves Ashley hoping the driver sees this story.

"Your irresponsible reckless actions almost left two boys orphaned and my husband without a wife or daughter," Makridakis said.

And little Lyla has a message too.

"Don't text and drive," she says.

The bus driver also said they've been advised to stop filling out stop sign violation reports because there are simply too many incidents to investigate.

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