A teenager was struck by a school bus while riding his bicycle home from school on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014. The crash took place in Northbridge, Mass.—a town located in Worcester county, just southeast of the city of Worcester.
The 15-year-old male was knocked off his bicycle, and the force of the crash caused his shoes to fly off his feet as he was thrown some 40 feet from his bike. He is reported to have not been wearing safety gear (such as a helmet) at the time of the accident, and police who were at the scene of the crash stated that the teen has sustained multiple skull fractures as a result of the accident.
Following the crash, the young man was tended to by nurses from the high school nurses’ office, who ran to the scene of the crash immediately to help out however they could until the ambulance arrived. He was then rushed to a local hospital by ambulance, where he was put into a medically-induced coma while doctors worked to stabilize his condition. He remains in a coma at this time.
The bus that struck the teen had no passengers on board at the time of the accident, as it was on its way to pick up students from a local middle school at the time the collision took place. The driver of the bus, 84-year-old John Dirienzo, a veteran driver who had been driving a school bus for more than a dozen years, reported that he had been driving on Linwood Avenue at a rate of 30 miles per hour when the teen darted out of the local high school’s driveway aboard his bicycle, directly in the path of the bus. Police investigating the crash have stated that the bus driver had no chance to stop the vehicle in order to prevent the crash. Dirienzo was also taken to the hospital following the accident by his supervisors, who noted that he was very shaken by the incident.
Local and state police continue to investigate the exact cause of the accident. Officials have stated that the school bus involved in the accident was equipped with video recording devices, which will aid in determining the details of the crash. Police officers have commended the school nurses on their efforts to provide first aid to the young man as they awaited help from first responders. No charges have been filed as a result of this accident, and the driver of the bus was released after questioning.