A male kindergarten student and his mother were killed when they were struck by a mini-bus while walking to Mamaroneck Avenue Elementary School in Mamaroneck on Thursday, a school district spokesperson said.
According to Mamaroneck village police, the boy was 6 years old and a student at the school. His mother was 43. Both lived in the village. Police said the boy was pronounced dead at the scene. The mother was taken to a nearby hospital, where she later died.
According to police, initial investigation revealed that the bus was traveling eastbound from New Street, turning left onto Mamaroneck Ave. with a green light. The bus was headed to the school and had the driver, a 68-year-old man from Mount Vernon, several students and an aide on board. As the bus was turning, there were several parents and children crossing the street within a crosswalk with a walk sign, police said.
Police said there are no charges pending for the bus driver. Police have not yet provided identities for the boy or his mother, or the driver of the vehicle that struck them.
The crash occurred at about 8:30 a.m. about half a block from the school, on Mamaroneck Avenue, across from the shopping center that includes Chipotle, CVS and North Shore Farms.
“There is nothing more difficult for a community to experience than the loss of life, and we know that everyone in the Mamaroneck and Larchmont communities is heartbroken by this news,” the school district said in a note to the community. “We also know that the death of a child is particularly difficult for other children to process. At this time, we have informed our staff of this incredible loss, and social workers and psychologists are fully deployed at MAS.”
At the scene, a Royal Coach Lines mini-bus was stopped in front of the shopping center with a yellow backpack in the road about 20 feet behind it. The backpack was taken away from the scene at 11:23 a.m. and put in a police SUV. The mini-bus was towed away at 12:13 p.m.
John Hunter of Mamaroneck was leaving mass at St. Vito’s Catholic Church and heard the accident. Hunter came over and saw that a woman and a boy were struck. EMS were on the scene immediately and were working with the mother. Hunter walked over to the boy.
“There was nothing I could do at that time. It was just catastrophic,” Hunter told the Journal News/lohud.
The school district said it is mobilizing crisis support teams and working with the Larchmont Mamaroneck Community Counseling Center, the Bereavement Center of Westchester, the mobile crisis team, as well as school psychologists and social workers. The school said it will have availability for the community affected to meet with mental health professionals beginning at noon Friday at Mamaroneck Avenue School.
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