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[UPDATE] School Bus Driver Arrested After Fatally Striking 10-Year-Old Brooklyn Girl
By
Sophia Chang
Published Feb 25, 2020
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By
Sophia Chang
Published Feb 25, 2020
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A ten-year-old girl was struck and killed by a school bus driver Tuesday morning in East New York, according to the NYPD. [UPDATE: Police arrested the bus driver later on Tuesday. Scroll down for updates.]
An NYPD spokesperson said the girl was crossing the Wortman Avenue around 6:45 a.m. when the driver, who was heading northbound on Crescent Street, made a right turn onto Wortman Avenue and hit her.
The girl, later identified by police as Patience Albert, was taken to Brookdale Hospital and pronounced dead. A 15-year-old boy, reportedly the girl's brother, was also struck and suffered a leg injury, but was expected to survive, an NYPD spokesperson said.
It was unclear if her parents were walking with her at the time, police said, but they were with her at the hospital.
It was also unclear if there were other children on the school bus.
The girl was believed to be walking to school, police said. PS 224 is a block away from the intersection where she was hit by the bus.
The bus driver told police that he believed he had the right of way, sources tell ABC7. He remained at the scene, and police said no criminality was suspected. The police investigation was ongoing.
UPDATE, 12:30 p.m.: Mayor Bill de Blasio said Chancellor Richard Carranza would be at the school Tuesday morning, and an investigation is ongoing.
"No family should have to suffer something like this," de Blasio wrote. "We won't rest until the streets around every single school are safe for our kids."
Street safety group Transportation Alternatives offered condolences to the girl's family and emphasized her death was preventable.
Street safety measures—the "cure" to traffic deaths—have been "slow-rolled," the group's executive director Danny Harris said.
"On behalf of Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets, we send our sincerest condolences to the child’s family," Harris said. "No one should have to fear death when walking in New York City."
The group said the girl is at least the 20th pedestrian to die in a traffic crash in 2020, and the fourth killed in 48 hours.
Harris's statement continues:
"This crash could have been prevented. At present, New York City has built and continues to invest in a transportation system that prioritizes moving traffic instead of protecting human life. This crash is not simply a failure of judgment on the part of the driver; it is a failure of leadership on the part of elected officials who accept tragedies like these as the price we pay for mobility. As we have seen in Helsinki and Oslo—both saw zero pedestrian or cyclist fatalities in 2019—Vision Zero is possible with the political will to make it happen.
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for children in New York City and around the world. We know what it takes to prevent these deaths, but our leaders have slow-rolled the cure. Mayor de Blasio says he wants to save our city, but he will fail if he is unable to protect the most vulnerable among us. Mr. Mayor, please: save our children."
City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Harris's statement.
UPDATE, 5 p.m.: Officers arrested the 61-year-old bus driver Pedro Colon later on Tuesday, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed.
Colon, of Maspeth, Queens, was arrested for two counts of failure to yield to a pedestrian and two counts of failure to exercise due care.
The spokesperson also said a 15-year-old boy suffered a leg injury, but was expected to survive. The boy was reportedly the girl's brother.
With Sydney Pereira
Tagged
vision zero
east new york
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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