WINDHAM, Maine — A Maine motorist who struck an 11-year-old boy while driving around a school bus faces three counts.
A Cumberland County grand jury indicted 23-year-old Ryan Boucher of Lewiston on charges of aggravated assault, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and passing a stopped school bus.
Windham police said the bus was stopped with its yellow lights flashing on the morning of the incident on Dec. 22.
Police said the victim, Xin Lao Chen, was taken to Maine Medical Center for treatment.
Any takers on how much time he will get? Remember, the victim isn’t old enough to vote.
Why didn’t the bus driver have the red lights on if he was discharging students?
That would be my question, too.
Original story says he was crossing the street to board the bus to go to school
In any event, the guy can’t drive and he hit a kid. He needs to lose his license and go back to drivers ed to learn to drive safely.
If the driver was dispatching kids and the red lights weren’t on then that’s a different argument. But as a poster here pointed out the kid was crossing the street to board the bus. I stand by my original post.
I have often been waved around school buses with yellow lights flashing. Once by a member of law enforcement, but other times by the driver. If it is illegal to pass a school bus with yellow lights flashing the NEWSpaper should make that clear to readers who have no interest in breaking the law.
I thought it is illegal to pass a school bus with RED lights flashing…..if the bus was stopped and only the yellows were operating then the driver should not have been releasing children from the bus……needs clarification…..either way, I am always overly cautious around school buses, knowing that children and drivers are unpredictable…….
WINDHAM, Maine — An 11-year old Windham boy was hospitalized Thursday morning after he was struck by a pickup truck as he crossed Route 115 attempting to board his school bus.
Windham police Sgt. David Thomas said Ryan Boucher, 22, of Lewiston failed to stop for the bus, which had its emergency lights flashing.
This happened in the morning pickup to school
Maybe the bus stopped and the child tried crossing before the reds were activated or
the RED emergency lights were flashing and the driver of the pickup wasn`t paying attention. Alot of driver teach the kids not to cross til they get a signal from driver.
When I was a kid the school bus always picked up on the door side and no child had to cross the street.
Thanks for the update…..if the bus was actually stopped then the “reds” should have been active…..sounds like maybe some of the cause could have been on the part of the student…..in smaller cities/rural settings it is impossible to always be going in the direction to pick-up or drop off kids without them crossing the road….
This happened to me when I was a kid. The bus was stopped, I was crossing the street in front of the bus and a car passed the bus. I was lucky I had only started to cross and I walked into the side of the moving car. The bus driver was blowing the horn, and I hesitated , otherwise I would have been hit full on. The case went to court and the driver’s lawyer tried to get me to say that the bus was moving!…
Common sense 101- Regardless if the lights are flashing on a school bus, when it’s stopped, use extreme caution. Even if the bus is stopped and the lights aren’t flashing yet, don’t just zoom ahead. It’s your job as an ADULT driver to be aware of everything going on.
Kids can be forgetful of rules, they can be easily distracted and they certainly can be unpredictable. There are no excuses for what this driver did. He was 100% in the wrong.
So the bus driver didn’t have the red flashing lights on? And the guy shouldn’t have passed anyway unless waved around by the driver no matter what – lights or no lights. Maybe this article just doesn’t have all the details yet.
he did not read the part about stopping for the school bus thjs kid is a dumbass