A young child was hospitalized on August 26th after a New York City bus accident. The official report states that the boy was riding his bicycle and collided with MTA bus B13 at the corner of Crescent Street and Welden in Cypress Hills sometime around 5 PM. However, the bus driver never saw the boy or felt the impact, and witnesses report hearing the boy upon impact but not seeing him immediately. It’s still unclear exactly what happened.
An investigation after the fact showed that the boy had been dragged under the bus for some distance, resulting in what witnesses call “severe wounds.” Emergency responders reached the intersection within minutes of the bus accident and took 11-year old Syncire Nickens to Brookdale Hospital in serious condition. He was stabilized there and then transported to New York Presbyterian Columbia Hospital for further treatment. Preliminary reports on his injuries say that his rib cage and lower extremities bore the brunt of the damage.
While NYPD officials said that there was no criminality involved in the accident, they would not say whether or not the bus driver was at fault. However, if the driver is found to be liable or negligent in the least, the boy’s parents could potentially sue the MTA and New York City Transit Authority.
While this case is tragic because it involves such a young child, New York bus accidents occur much more frequently than most people understand. In fact, a recent study found public school buses were involved in over 1,700 accidents in just one year. The number for public MTA buses and privately owned charter buses is much higher.
Just last year, 14 people died in a N.Y.C. tour bus accident. Earlier this year, an infant was killed when a shuttle bus crashed into a lamp post. In June, an elderly man was killed by a city bus in Manhattan while crossing the street. The very next month, a motorcyclist was killed when he was struck by an MTA bus.