7-year-old in coma after truck passes school bus in Maryland
BRYANTOWN, Maryland (WABC) -- Skyla Shirriel is in the hospital after she was hit by a pickup truck while getting off of her school bus in front of her Maryland home on Tuesday afternoon.
The 7-year-old is now in a medically-induced coma.
Family friend and housemate Mike Wathen told WJLA that his children were with Sklya at the time and were nearly hit too.
"The other three little boys were pretty shook up," he said. "They had a tough time last night. They just had questions about what happened to her. They all saw it."
Police are still investigating, but it appears the 35-year-old driver didn't stop for the school bus's blinking lights and extended stop sign.
It's a problem that is becoming far too common.
In a fatal crash in Indiana, 24-year-old Alyssa Shepherd told investigators she saw flashing emergency lights on a rural highway but didn't realize it was a school bus until it was too late.
Identical 6-year-old twins Xzavier and Mason Ingle and their 9-year-old sister Alivia Stahl were killed.
And the number of bus stop violations in Maryland alone is alarming.
In the spring of 2018, 3,812 bus stop violations were reported, which is up from 3,384 in 2017.
Bus driver Joselyn Brown said those numbers are too high and drivers need to make a change.
"Just stop, stop when you see the yellow lights even," she told WJLA. "Slow down. Stop. Somebody's child is going to get hurt, just like what happened yesterday."
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