FHP: 9-year-old boy dies after crawling underneath Orange County school bus
By Web Staff
Click here for updates on this story
ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — First responders responded to the scene of a fatal accident involving an Orange County school bus and a 9-year-old child on Tuesday.
It happened at an apartment complex along Wharf Lane, just off SR-408.
“I don’t understand how it happened,” said Tosharra Harvey, who lives in the complex.
It’s the question people living in the Waterford East Apartment homes were asking Tuesday night as troopers worked to answer it.
“We have interviewed the driver of the school bus however, we have to get the video to be able to check how the crash sequence of events actually occurred,” said Lieutenant Tara Crescenzi with Florida Highway Patrol.
FHP said the driver of the Orange County school bus, a 54-year-old man, has been a driver for more than a decade. The nine-year-old was struck and killed just before 4 p.m. Tuesday. No other students were on the bus.
According to the FHP crash report, the bus was stopped in a roundabout within the parking lot of the Waterford East Apartments on Island Bay Drive at the intersection of Wharf Lane.
When the child stepped off the bus, the boy crawled underneath the school bus before the right rear tire of the bus collided with the victim, according to the report.
“I’m in shock” Said Kenia Joachim. The mother of three says her seven-year-old son was best friends with the little boy who was killed.
“Almost every day, he would be outside my house, my apartment door, just playing or they would be on the playground playing. It’s crazy,” she said.
She said her son was shaking after getting the news.
“He’s going through it, I can tell”
She says her son walks home from school. She’s already talked with her kids about the precautions she wants them to take from now on.
“Cause it could have happened to any of our kids. It could have been another tragedy from my kids walking home. It could have been any of our kids,” Joachim said.
She says the complex won’t be the same without this nine-year-old boy there.
“It’s like a little missing piece. It’s hard. It will definitely be hard,” she said.
FHP says they will be reviewing video from the bus and from a clubhouse at the complex to work out how this tragedy happened.
OCPS shared a statement from Dr. Maria Vazquez, OCPS Superintendent. Saying,
“We are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic death of one of our precious students who was involved in a bus accident late this afternoon. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the students’ family and school community. To lose a child so suddenly and tragically is extremely difficult especially for family and friends. We will have counselors available for any student or staff member dealing with the news. Please know that OCPS is fully cooperating with the ongoing Florida Highway Patrol investigation, but we ask that you keep the entire Lawton Chiles Elementary School community in your prayers as they grieve the loss of one of their own.”
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
