Khalsa School Mission has fired the driver of their school bus after he mowed down his own passenger, a 7-year-old boy. While the school has rightly fired the negligent driver but the badly injured boy Gurtaj Gill’s family is still calling for answers while he remains in intensive care.
ABBPOTSFORD – Khalsa School Mission has fired the driver of their school bus after he mowed down his own passenger, a 7-year-old boy.
While the school has rightly fired the negligent driver but the badly injured boy Gurtaj Gill’s family is still calling for answers while he remains in intensive care.
Rupinder Gill says she’s praying that her nephew, Gurtaj, will recover from serious injuries he sustained in the incident, which occurred when the boy was dropped off after school on Oct. 6. The bus started moving as the boy was crossing in front of it, seconds after he disembarked, reported CTV News.
“He has his pelvic (bone) broken. It’s a really bad injury, and he had some major stomach bleeding,” Gill told CTV Vancouver. She says Gurtaj underwent multiple surgeries, and remains in serious condition at the B.C. Children’s Hospital.
The collision was captured on security camera, but Gill says it’s too “intense” for her to watch it.
“I can’t,” she said.
The video shows the bus stopping to let Gurtaj and his older sister out in front of their house. The bus is initially stationary, with its door open and its front safety barrier extended to prevent students from walking in the driver’s front blind spot.
The girl can be seen getting off the bus first and running across in front of it, to reach her house.
Gurtaj can be seen getting off the bus a few seconds later, but the bus retracts its safety barrier and starts rolling just as he starts to cross in front of it. The boy doesn’t react to the movement until he’s squarely in front of the bumper. He can be seen trying to run for a moment before he falls under the bus between the wheels.
The driver was initially suspended by the Khalsa Centre mission school that runs the bus service. The driver has since been fired.
“We reviewed all of our transportation practices and reinforced safety protocols with our bus drivers,” the school told CTV Vancouver in a statement. “Khalsa School’s first priority is the care and well-being of our students, and to ensure our transportation practices are safe.”
Police are investigating the incident.
