UPDATE (10 p.m. Thursday, June 5) Witnesses in the Otsego neighborhood where a child was hit by a bus Thursday, June 5 after school say the student struck was a 6-year-old girl.
According to multiple media reports, the girl had dropped some items from her backpack and was searching for them when the bus started moving forward, trapping her under the vehicle.
The girls’ parents, who were on scene, left their vehicle and ran to rescue the child. Their car was not in “park,” witnesses added, so the car struck the bus. No one was hurt when that occurred, but other students were still aboard the bus at that time.
Here’s a video wrap from Minneapolis-based FOX 9 news.
KMSP-TV
ORIGINAL REPORT: A child playing in an Otsego neighborhood was reportedly struck by an Elk River School District bus Thursday afternoon, just as students were being dropped off after their final day of school for the year.
The Elk River School District released a special statement June 5 stating one of their buses was, indeed, involved in an accident near the intersection of 82nd Circle and Padgett Avenue Northeast.
The accident scene is just west of the Otsego Elementary School on Page Avenue Northeast.
“This afternoon a student from Otsego Elementary was involved in an accident at their bus stop. The student’s parents were at the scene. The student was transported to a hospital.
All other students on the bus are safe, and district support personnel are on the bus and will accompany children for the remainder of the route. No further information is available at this time.
Law enforcement may be contacting your student in the future for investigative purposes.”
According to reports, Wright County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Elk River Fire assisted at the scene. Air Care was paged and the child was transported to a local hospital by helicopter. The child’s name, sex and condition is being held as investigators try to figure out how the accident happened.
Wright County investigators are assisting in the reconstruction of the accident.
LINK: Police Clips Audio of Dispatch Chatter of Bus vs. Child Accident in Elk River (Warning: graphic)
The Wright County Sheriff’s Department issued this statement:
“Sheriff Joe Hagerty reports that at approximately 3:15pm the Wright County Sheriff’s Dispatch Center received a 911 call reporting that a child had been struck by a school bus. The accident was reported to have occurred near the intersection of Padgett Ave NE and 82nd Circle NE in the City of Otsego. The child victim was treated at the scene and transported via air ambulance to a metro hospital. The child’s current medical condition is not known at this time, but was reported to be conscious at the time of transport.
The accident is currently under investigation by the members of the Wright County Sheriff’s Department and the Minnesota State Patrol.”