A group of special needs children on their way home after classes was caught in a bizarre school bus accident in Brooklyn late one afternoon. A small bus carrying 6 children, all under the age of 12, had partially crossed the intersection of Halsey Street and Marcy Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant when a taxi cab entered the intersection and struck the bus. The two vehicles collided with such force that the cab continued on, crashing into a lamppost, and the bus rolled over onto its side.
Rescue workers transported a total of 9 people (including the six children, the bus driver, and the bus matron) to a nearby hospital. Witnesses were horrified by the sight of traumatized children who had been tossed about inside the bus before it came to rest wrong-side-up. The accident was made worse by the fact that all of the children were non-verbal autistic individuals.
The shocking school bus accident was caught on film by a nearby security camera. The video show pieces of debris flying out from underneath the bus as it begins to roll and the cab (with its hood crumpled) smashing into the lamppost–which likely stopped it from striking a storefront.
A police investigation concluded that the driver of the green New York Boro cab had run a red light, causing the accident. The driver was cited by the NYPD.
There are roughly 1,700 school bus accidents in New York City every year. As a parent, you trust the school system to get your children to and from school and extra-curricular activities. But in a city of 3.4 million licensed drivers accidents are a part of everyday life.
If your child has been involved in a school bus accident in New York, you may be entitled to recover for your child monetary compensation from the at fault party. Whether that’s the bus driver, or–as in this case–another individual, New York law allows injured parties to sue for pain and suffering for the injuries sustained in the accident. Call the Law Offices of Nussin S. Fogel for a free consultation at or 212-385-1122 to learn your rights.