At around 3:20 this afternoon a non jewish 8 year old girl standing at the corner of Crown St. and Nostrand Ave. was struck and killed by a School Bus owned and operated by the Jofaz Bus Company. The bus had been parked on Nostrand between Carroll and Crown and according to eyewitnesses there were kids playing on the bus.
The cause of the accident was under investigation. Investigators are looking into the possibility that kids had gotten onto the vehicle, were playing, and somehow released the emergency brake, sending the bus rolling down Nostrand Ave. and when it reached Crown St. the had gone up onto the sidewalk running over the child.
FDNY EMS along with FDNY and NYPD responded in massive numbers only to stand and look at the tragedy before them, they had no way of getting the bus off the child, luckily a ConEd truck with a light crane had just been passing, and with it they raised the bus and freed the child who was then rushed to Kings County Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
More pictures and details in the Extended Article.
8 Year Old Girl Killed By Runaway School Bus
At around 3:20 this afternoon a non jewish 8 year old girl standing at the corner of Crown St. and Nostrand Ave. was struck and killed by a School Bus owned and operated by the Jofaz Bus Company. The bus had been parked on Nostrand between Carroll and Crown and according to eyewitnesses there were kids playing on the bus.
The cause of the accident was under investigation. Investigators are looking into the possibility that kids had gotten onto the vehicle, were playing, and somehow released the emergency brake, sending the bus rolling down Nostrand Ave. and when it reached Crown St. the had gone up onto the sidewalk running over the child.
FDNY EMS along with FDNY and NYPD responded in massive numbers only to stand and look at the tragedy before them, they had no way of getting the bus off the child, luckily a ConEd truck with a light crane had just been passing, and with it they raised the bus and freed the child who was then rushed to Kings County Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
More pictures and details in the Extended Article.
An 8-year-old Brooklyn girl was killed yesterday afternoon after she was pinned on the sidewalk underneath a runaway school bus in Crown Heights, the police said.
The bus had been left empty and legally parked by the driver while he went to lunch, the police said. An 8-year-old neighborhood boy, who witnesses said had entered the empty bus with a companion before it started moving, was taken in for questioning, the police said.
The victim, Amber Sadiq, was crossing Nostrand Avenue near Crown Street with her 10-year-old brother at 3:16 p.m., the police said.
The school bus had been parked north of that intersection but started moving down a slight incline.
The bus gathered speed as it moved across the intersection, and it hit Amber about 100 feet from where it had been parked, the police said. The brother was not injured.
“She tried to run but the garbage can was in the way,” said Kassandra Polanco, 12, a witness. The bus swerved onto the sidewalk, pinning Amber underneath.
A group of 20 to 25 neighbors tried to lift the bus off her, witnesses said.
“Someone in the crowd was yelling, ‘One, two, three,’ and it wouldn’t move, it was heavy,” said Sulanch Lewis, a witness. A nearby Con Edison truck with a crane on it was used to lift the bus.
“But she looked dead and we were just crying,” Ms. Lewis said.
Amber was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead at 3:40 p.m., the police said.
The driver, Jean Lima, had parked the bus and taken a brown-bag lunch down the block to JRN Realty to eat with a friend, Richard Joseph. The police said they were not sure whether the front door of the bus had been locked; the back door, an emergency exit, cannot be locked. The operator of the bus is Jofaz Transportation of Red Hook.
Witnesses said they had seen two neighborhood boys enter the bus. One of them, Safari James, 8, was taken in by the police for questioning, said Rosslyn James, 79, his grandmother.
Amber was in the second grade at Public School 161, her family said. She lived on Crown Street with her extended family, including her brother, Umar, and an older sister.
“She was just a happy kid all the time,” said Lucy Caba, 29, her aunt. At the family apartment last evening, Umar was crying and trembling.
“I saw it happen and someone carried me home,” he said, with tears on his face.
Neighbors described Amber and Umar as close. They would cross Nostrand Avenue twice a day, walking together the two blocks to and from school. They would sometimes play jump rope and basketball together outside.
Amber was a tidy, well-behaved girl, neighbors said. She would do her homework after school and be in bed by the time her mother, Reina, arrived home from work.
Her hair was always combed, said Christen Delacruz, 14, who lives in the building. Her clothes were always ironed and she was always on time for school, he said.
By evening, a makeshift memorial had been set up at the intersection where the accident occurred, which had votive candles, furry teddy bears and a shiny pink pillow that said, “I love you.”
One neighbor, Sheena Rose, left a card with a poem that read: “You could make anyone laugh if they were having a bad day. No matter how sad I was, you could take the hurt away.”
OMG!
Is this craaaaaazzzzzzzy or what???????????????
Ruchie
An unfortunate tragedy. Who owned the bus? There were eary rumors that it was owned by a Jewish yeshiva.
Anonymous
No, it was the Jofaz Bus Co. and the driver was not Jewish (the bus didn’t have a driver at the time, it was parked).
I amended the article.
wondering...
you know, this is a definite tragedy, but yet, as on of my friends was telling me earlier, how many FDNY EMS, FDNY and NYPD were there when Mr. Klein was shot?
just something to ponder…
Crown Heights Resident
Nebach
CRIMINALS WITH A BEDGE
if the NYPD is busy giving tikets for cell phone users .
and thy have no time for fighting crime .
what will the kids do if thy see that adults are not punished for crime .
the only crime being fught by the great NYPD id cell phone crime .
so kids go on the bus play and couse killing of a little girl.
big shame on the NYPD that lost all prospectus of patroling streets of the city and making city street safe even from litle huligans who are not behaving properly.
gruntig
wondering: there were many there too and plenty of media coverage. Also the Kline tragedy was early in the morning as oppose to here as it was in the middle of the afternoon.
president st
This is very sad.
How do they comfort children in public schools when they can’t talk about heaven, etc.?
izzy c
i know everybody is going to try to blame the bus driver.
however he is probably inocent.and we should give him the benefit of the doubt
Conserned
Why is Benjy Stock there? Was Bais Rivka to blaim? Lets hope not the crown hights riots started with an accedent progrom.
cr member
i wonder what type of commorion will happen tom.
bus?
where the buses waiting for the kids from public school or from our school?
brhs student
its sooooooo funny to see how much rumors spread!! basically i was leaving skewl when this happened and all the public school kids who were coming off the bus were tramatized! Some were saying that there was shooting on the bus some were saying that the bus wetn flying into the kid and the bus driver ran away! whatever the case is – its sooooooooooo scary and sooooooo sad!!!
curious
Great covreage webby!
Once again great pics!
BTW — What position was the girl in that she was trapped? Was she under the wheel, pinned against the pole,…?
Why couldn’t FDNY use the ‘Jaws of Life’ to lift the bus?
anon
what does it matter that the child was a "non Jew"?!?! A child is a child, and this child is dead…… stop the labeling please
BRHSer :)
The jaws of life are used to cut through metal and take apart smashed cars, i.e. frames, steering wheels, etc.
Jacks are hand operated mechanisms used to lift cars on one corner, but are probably not strong enough to lift busses.
I’m a girl and I know that!
Ari
Dear Anon,
The answer to your inquiry as to what it matters whether iut was Jew or not is very clear. If your rother was G-d forbid hurt in an accident or killed, G-d forbid, you would like to know. This is not a matter of "labels", it is simply a family concern. likewise the Jewish community is OE FAMILY, thus we are proud when webby makes it known and clear at the very beginning of his article as to whether it was a meber of the family, or a neighbor or cousin or a starnger who is concerned. Thanks webby for making this clear at the starout of yiur articles, so we don’t have to read on wondering whether this was on=e of unzere. It us wholyb true that when any member of the huma race, G-ds creation is struck by a tragedy it is very disturbing. However, we have the rigts to know who it was, so we can say tehillim or even to just be informed.
Yaakov Aaron
What school does Jofaz drive for? Bais Rivka? Public schools? Private secular school or other religious? Can somebody provide an answer? As usual, I am often confused.
To president st
president st,
You said probably the smartest thing I have heard in a loong time – well-put and your simple, decisive, yet intellegent comment hit me in the right spot!
Perhaps they tell them, "she’s with Drawin"..
Or, better: According to the theory of Darwinism and Evolution, death is merely what they call "natural selection", in which case the girl would have been "eliminated" as she was an impediment to the survival of the master genes.
(Those who understand Evolution and Darwinism will understand what I am saying and how, as president st pointed out, if you don’t believe in G-d, you are lost)
*chavi
Actually:
A hydaulic pump is essential to the operation of hydraulic rescue tools. The pump can be hand, foot or engine powered. The tips of the blades are wedged into a seam or gap, for example around a vehicle door, and the device engaged. The hydraulic pump, attached to the tool or as a separate unit, powers a piston that pushes the blades apart with great force and spreads the seam. Once the seam has been spread, the now-open blades can be repositioned around the metal. The device is engaged in reverse and the blades close, cutting through metal. Repeating this process allows a rescuer to quickly open a gap wide enough to pull a trapped victim free. The blades can spread or cut with a force of several tons or kilonewtons with the tips of the blades spreading up to a meter.
(therefore it doesn’t matter how large the vehicle is..)
Just to clarify that bit of info.
And to B.F
That’s mean. It’s a little girl.
S.S
why did you write a non jewish child ? Whats the difference? It was a child,a human being how terribley sad for her parents who will never get over this.
Watching Grammer
Learn to spell, guys!
correction
watching grammAr-
That’s YOUR first spelling lesson
but I will admit that these comments in general are virtually impossible to read- misspelled and incoherent
curious
*to BRHSer :) who wrote:*
"The jaws of life are used to cut through metal and take apart smashed cars, i.e. frames, steering wheels, etc.
Jacks are hand operated mechanisms used to lift cars on one corner, but are probably not strong enough to lift busses.
I’m a girl and I know that!"
The jaws of life actually refers to whole set of tools including (yes) cutters, AND rams, and SPREADERS with lifting capacities above 60,000 lbs. each.
Much in the same way that the spreaders and rams can be used to separate two cars from on top one another, when used in conjunction with blocks placed underneath (to increase their spreading range), they can lift a vehicle (, or for the same price, a pile of concrete and steel debris) up to rescue someone pinned underneath.
for more info about the "Jaws of Life" click here:
http://science.howstuffwork…
To Watching Grammer...
You said, "Learn to spell, guys!" Just for your information, YOU mispelled "grammer." Grammar is spelled with an A not an E.
Hishtadel lihyos ish
The torah teaches us not to assume, and label people.
As we see by Yishmoel, even though we all know how he turned out, and how we all suffer from him till this day, nevertheless Hashem chose to look at him "ba’asher hu sham". At the time this little child was pinned under the bus, she was deffinitly an innocent helpless child.
Now on the same token, we should still do everything to fight crime. one issue doesnt have to with the other. We have to ban together and stand up to the police and demand that they put an end to this mess, our families are in danger!
ima
very sad tragedy….jews should send their condolences to the parents…we need moshiach now!
trouble
to wondering
when mr klein was murderd fdny was there as well as kbj, however as he is a jew hatzolah took him to the hosp.
Itzik_s
Doesn’t Jofaz also service some of unzerer schools? I thought I saw unzerer kids in one of their buses. If so, we ought to examine their safety records more carefully.
Mendy
Unfortunately, we have good reasons to fear that little non-Jewish children will grow up to become big non-Jewish criminals. However, this is primarily for boys, not girls–especially when it comes to violent crime like murder. I doubt the author of the "one less murderer" comment knew that the accident victim was a female–had the author known, what was written would probably not have been written.
reyshlukish
one thing our heimishe drivers should take heed, always secure the door to your bus when leaving, even for a very short time. May g-d almighty protect each and everyone os us.
CrownHeights.info Fan
Hi Webby I completely agree with Disgusted by certain comments… you have a great thing going here with this site and forum. Just let the forum have some basicly menschlichkeit there is no place anywhere for the vile racist chillul hashem comments that every immature moron wants to post. Poor family that has to deal with such a loss jewish white black or green.
keep up the great work Webby…
To S.S.
I am presuming webby wrote "a non-jewish child" to prevent himself from instantly receiving 300 emails asking if the child was Jewish…
ss
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/…
Boy Held in Deadly School Bus Accident
unity
it was so nice going to the scene where a little sweet and innocent girl was killed and seeing a letter from a jewish school (beth rivkah school) it is so sweet to see the 2 communities grieving together and at peace
Beth Rivkah Staff
P.S. 161 has been neighbors with Bais Rivkah located at 310 Crown Street since we moved there approx. 30 years ago. We heard and then saw the horrific accident that occurred right before our eyes.
Bais Rivkah has sent their condolences to the school with flowers and a note of sympathy.
We were all traumatized by this accident. Hashem should watch us all and make sure that we are safe and out of harms way.
WTVR
btw the bus driver is a guy but drives for ohlie torah
-----123--
oh my g-d
”es ez pasht meshoge”’
TERRIBLE!
lets just hope nothing like this should ever happen again!
shes only 8 years old. she could have had a nother 110 years to live! poor girl!!!!!!!!
Der Shtut...
Der shtut Shtarbt!
someone
Just be extra careful with your kids
and "tracht gut vet zein gut".
WE, SUEM & HOW, LLPC
I hope the family sues the manafacturer, the driver, the school and the bus company all had a hand in this and all have insurance tocollect from.
bh
BH it wasn’t a Jew driving the bus, otherwise there would be riots…
hashfanatic
You go, "Unity" and "Beth Rivkah Staff"!
Now THAT’S what being from CH is really all about!
anony
to mendy who wrote that little non-jewish boys grow up to become non-jewish criminals ( as opposed to girls) how utterly ridiculous!! I was mugged by a girl!with a knife!! and not even a shvartzeh girl!! girls can be criminals just like boys–if not worse!!
eric
Dont you think that if the FDNY could have used their extrication equipment (i.e. spreaders), they would have? Do you think they would rather just sit there and watch the girl pinned under a bus instead? Are you kidding me?
BTW, my department’s spreaders are capable of only 10,000 LBs, made by Hurst. Yes they are a bit old, but you don’t know what kind of equipment they had there nor the circumstances or even if what the newspaper reported is entirely accurate.
anony
and, everyone should stop harrassing webby for saying it was a goyishe kid–as soon as you read the story for yourself, you’d want to know if it was a yiddishe or not… he knows which crowd is reading this site….i think it’s trying to be liberal in the wrong place. and to us yidden, i sincerely hope it makes a difference to u if it was a yiddishe maidel- one of our OWN, or another human being that hashem created
a differnt mentality
the lesson to be learned hear is respect other peoples property.what is not yours dont touch. if these children would have a basic understanding of who g-d is they would be much better adults. living together with shvartzes and better said angry,non g-d fearing people it is very easy to asses the situation. had the goverment taken heed to what the rebbe begged for, a m oment of silence trust me these kids would be more respectful and honest-not in the way that shvartzes always yell and preach about respect… but in their true meaning. the way law abiding happy dignified non criminal people should be.
Arye
To webby,
Big Yasher Koiach for calrifying at the very begining of the article that it was B"H not a Jewish girl involved. I know that many readers have very valid comments o sya about that, it doesn’t soud politically correct etc. However, this is sort of a family website (for the one groise yidishe mishpoche of anash) and therfor it is befitting that you calm everyone’s nervs at the outset f your article. Ayone who complains you can explain that yes we sympathaise dnempathise with the mouners of this tragic incident, but we are family based, thus informing all relatives and membres of this websites society that it it in’t one of theirs…
Additionally, i think that it would be a nice kiddush shem Hashem and Lubavitch if CH residents show any emotions of sympathy to the mourning family….
for your info
By the way, it wasn’t a "shvartze" who was killed – it was a Hispanic girl – and last I checked, B"H we haven’t been having much trouble if at all from the Hispanic community.
I haven’t seen any community members at the site – which, as arye said, would be a great Kiddush H-shem.
hashfanatic
I’m not sure that she is Hispanic, either. I think the family is some sort of Indian or East Asian, and the funeral home is in Woodhaven, where many such families live.
I’m concerned that people make assumptions carelessly, and violence in this highly charged atmosphere will erupt as a result, compounding the tragedy. This has happened before, and summer is nearly upon us.
frisgenafroowa
this is just not normal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
whats the mater with ch
what is going on with crown heights
this is crazy
Itzik_s
The family is Pakistani.
OMGGGG
i went to this school and saw this accendent right infront my eyes!! my heart goes out to her family. RIP amber you will be missed
abril
omg my cousin knew that girl and she told me the story my cousin was actually in the news who would actually play in a school bus thats dangerous
amaly
Im so sad about this they did not did nothing just because she was not jewish wow Human” are Humans!!! she was a little spanish 8 year old her mother is dominican and her father is arabic.Me and her were close friends and my mom was friends with her mother but we dont talk alot anymore ever since her death .RIP amber we will always miss you!!! and love you forever te amo amber!!!!
krystal
i went to that school at the time . sorry i didnt even get to meet her