According to my friends at MassLive the driver of the car was Nikhal P. Kapur, 32, of 13 Ware St., Cambridge, who was issued a citation for failure use care in starting and failure to stop for a school bus with its red flashing lights illuminated.
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It can be a tad confusing for distracted drivers who arrived in a hurry just before the buses line up ...
Crocker Farm Elementary School main entrance
At the Amherst Police Department briefing this morning Detective Richard MacLean said stoically, "There is nothing more to be released on that," referring of course to the Amherst school child hit by a driver who went around a stopped bus with its flashing lights on. But he did say something may be forthcoming from the District Attorney's office later today.
Well, no.
According to Mary Carey, the DA's Communications Director, since the infraction was civil rather than criminal, and the driver only received a ticket, the DAs office will not be involved. Thus the name of the driver is not necessarily a matter of public record, and will only be released at the discretion of the Amherst Police Department.
So what I can tell you from police logs is this: The reporting party who called 911 first reported it as "child hit by school bus." The initial cruiser was dispatched at 14:44:21 (almost 2:45 pm), and arrived on the scene at 14:49:00 (about four and a half minutes later) and cleared the scene at 15:15:22 (roughly 25 minutes later).
The vehicle involved was not a big yellow school bus, but a blue 2012 Mazda.
I can also tell you, from an ultra-reliable source, the cited driver was NOT a staff member who works at Fort River School.
So the whole basic premise of your original story was wrong? There was no school bus involved?
ReplyDeleteActually there was a school bus involved. Try to pay attention. The child had just exited the SCHOOL BUS immediately before getting hit by the car that went around the bus.
ReplyDeleteThe original dispatch went out over the airwaves at 2:44 pm (plus 21 seconds) saying "Child hit by school bus."
I tweeted more or less that exact quote at 2:45 pm
yeah come on, pay attention
ReplyDeleteI was wrong -- and will admit it.
ReplyDeleteBut this is why you release this information immediately. If the APD wasn't sure they were going to cite him, they could have said that they were considering it, if they didn't want to release his name, "32 year old man from Cambridge" would have sufficed.
And both Maria G and the APD should have made it clear that this was not a school employee.
And you do it IMMEDIATELY!
And this is why you always tell the truth, on everything, because then people aren't going to suspect the worst. And this is why you don't play games with withholding information because the one time you need people to trust you, they won't.
Why does anyone need to make it clear it was NOT a school employee. Why would anyone assume it was a school employee? It could have been anyone. It could have been someone with a doctorate from UMass, or Amherst College or Hampshire College. It could have been granny down the street. It could have been a plumber, doctor, window washer, journalist, dog walker. It could have been anyone. Just because YOU assumed it was someone associated with the school, Ed, is no reason for anyone to be wasting time saying who it was not. What a piece of work you are.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:30ish. I'm not going to publish your comment in full because you clearly identify the child involved in the accident without actually giving their name (you're now the 4th Anon to do so, thus I'm fairly sure you are correct in the ID).
ReplyDelete"... was not a student at the school.
You go on to say, and I quote completely:
"The principle ran outside the school and the school was left in a near lock down as the assistant principle had no idea how to handle the fact that neither buses nor parents could get into the lot because the APD blocked off the streets. It took 20 more minutes before children were allowed out of class to go home."
Well of course it wasn't a student at the school since elementary isn't even out at that time!
ReplyDeleteAnd smart move to keep the kids inside until the transportation issues were resolved. Did you want them wandering around outside?