2nd grader severely injured after being struck by bus near elementary school, police say

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE/Gray News) - A second grader in Kentucky was seriously injured Monday morning after he was hit by a bus near his elementary school.

The Louisville Metropolitan Police Department said the accident happened shortly after 8 a.m. on Fegenbush Lane and Hollow Creek Road.

The bus was headed south when the boy may have ran out in front of the bus, according to authorities. He was taken to the hospital where he underwent surgery. He is now in critical but stable condition.

Police said there were no traffic guards at the intersection when the accident occurred. The guard who is usually there was reportedly on bereavement leave.

A representative for the school district said there were no students on the bus and the driver stayed at the scene.

The boy’s father and his sibling were also with him at the time he was struck.

WAVE reports that neighbors who live near the crosswalk leading to Luhr Elementary School said the intersection is very busy and there are often cars that speed.

Carlina Estrada said she was behind the bus when the crash happened and has a different perspective on what led up to the accident.

She told WAVE the boy was in the crosswalk and the bus failed to stop.

“We reached, like, the front of Luhr Elementary and there was a crosswalk,” Estrada said. “The bus just didn’t yield to the crosswalk, and then the kid’s foot got caught under.”

Estrada said she ran to the boy to provide first aid when she saw him on the ground.

“I hopped out of my car, ran up to him and I checked his leg, and there was a woman next to me checking his pulse making sure he was still breathing,” Estrada said.

Estrada created a makeshift tourniquet using a shirt to keep the boy’s leg stable before EMS could take him to the hospital.

Some people have wondered why there was no replacement for the traffic guard who was on leave.

A spokesperson for the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department said out of 112 available slots for traffic control officers, only 76 are filled. They said they are trying to fix the shortage.

In September, the police department posted a video on Facebook to try to recruit people to be a part of their team and make sure everyone gets to their destinations safely.

Estrada hopes accidents like this can be stopped from happening again.

“I’m definitely going to hold my kids closer to me after that,” Estrada said. “It was just traumatic, and I don’t want that to happen to any other kid.”

Copyright 2023 WAVE via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.