Charges Pending After School Bus Nearly Hits Child: PD (Video)

LAKEWOOD, NJ — Charges are pending against a school bus driver who nearly hit an elementary school boy in Lakewood after the boy got off the bus last week, after video of the incident made the rounds on social media, police said.

Video of the incident, which happened about 4:15 p.m. Thursday, was captured by a surveillance camera at the boy's home. It shows the school bus come to a stop, and as the boy starts to step in front of the school bus, the bus starts to move forward, then stops quickly before hitting the boy.

The video was posted late Friday night by the Facebook page Jewish Breaking News.

"It appears that the bus did not have functioning safety equipment, specifically a safety arm, designed to prevent potential tragedies caused by an obstructed view," Lakewood Capt. Gregory Staffordsmith said Tuesday.

The safety arm that is supposed to activate on the front of school buses in New Jersey — to force students to cross far enough in front of the bus that the driver can see them — does not appear to activate in the video, and the bus's warning lights are not activated prior to the stop, either.

Staffordsmith said the incident was not reported to police, but they began investigating after the video reached them.

Officer Alexander Guzman of the department's Traffic Safety Unit was able to identify the neighborhood in the video and subsequently the Chesnut Street home of the 7-year-old student. Guzman spoke with the boys's father, who confirmed he did not report the incident to police "as he wished to address the matter through the school," Staffordsmith said.

The school was identified as Toras Yisroel in Lakewood.

Staffordsmith said Guzman has met with school officials who are cooperating with law enforcement, and the school bus has been taken out of service until all mandated repairs have been made.

"In addition, charges against the operator of the bus are pending at this time," he said. The driver was not named. Contact information for the school, Congregation Talmud Torah Toras Yisroel, a private elementary school for boys in Lakewood. Attempts to locate contact information for the school to inquire about the driver were unsuccessful.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles requires all New Jersey school bus drivers to get both passenger and school bus endorsements to a commercial driver's license, which requires passing a road test. The manual for the commercial driver's license says a school bus driver should make sure no students are around or near the bus before moving forward, and gives procedures that should be followed to ensure all students are safe.

Click here to get Patch email notifications on this or other local news articles or get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our app. Download here.

Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com

Image via Shutterstock