A fatal hit-and-run involving a school bus has shaken a Brooklyn neighborhood and triggered an urgent police search in New York City.
Police say a woman was struck and killed Thursday afternoon when a school bus carrying students plowed into her at a busy intersection in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn — then drove away.
The crash happened just after 3 p.m. at the intersection of 23rd Avenue and Bath Avenue, according to the New York City Police Department. Investigators say the woman was legally crossing the street when the bus driver failed to safely navigate the roadway and slammed into her.
The impact left the woman critically injured.
She was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center, where doctors attempted lifesaving measures. She later died from her injuries, police said.
What has outraged investigators and residents alike is what happened next.
Authorities say the driver did not stop. Instead, the yellow school bus allegedly fled the scene with students still on board. The driver has not yet been identified or located, and officials say it remains unclear whether the driver was even aware a pedestrian had been struck.
“The fact that a bus transporting children left the scene makes this incident especially disturbing,” a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said. “This was a crowded area, during daylight hours.”
The victim’s identity has not yet been released, pending family notification.
As of Thursday night, police had not confirmed which bus company operated the vehicle or which school it served. Investigators are working to track surveillance footage from nearby buildings and traffic cameras that may have captured the bus before or after the collision.
The case has been handed over to the NYPD’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad, which is leading the probe.
Residents in the area say the intersection has long been dangerous, especially during afternoon school traffic.
“Cars and buses fly through here,” said one local resident. “Someone was going to get killed eventually. It’s heartbreaking that it finally happened.”
Police are urging anyone with information about the bus or its driver to come forward as the investigation continues.
The school district certainly knows who drives that bus, and where the driver lives. Why the charade? Is the district trying to dodge responsibility like the driver did?
Surely some of the kids on the bus must have talked about it with their parents at dinner that night! Why hasn’t the driver been taken in by the police?