Police say the troubled boy fiddled with the controls and caused the bus to roll backwards over Amber.
There were two major developments here this afternoon. First the child's father has been stripped of custody of the child. He will be placed in foster care for at least the next eight months.
Fatal bus accident boy ordered to foster care
The 8-year-old boy accused of causing the bus to run over a little girl has been ordered placed in foster care. The girl, Amber Sadiq, was run over and killed Monday by a school bus in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Police say the troubled boy fiddled with the controls and caused the bus to roll backwards over Amber.
There were two major developments here this afternoon. First the child’s father has been stripped of custody of the child. He will be placed in foster care for at least the next eight months.
Another major development is that the NYPD has dropped charges against the boy, which is essentially a technicality because the city could file its own charges at any time.
The little boy was arrested on Monday after he commandeered an empty school bus by releasing the brakes. The bus rolled 100 feet and ran over the child’s second grade classmate.
Amber Sadiq was crushed by the runaway bus and the boy was charged with criminally negligent homicide. It was later learned that the boy had tried the same thing unsuccessfully just days earlier and was already under investigation by child welfare authorities for missing over 40 days of school.
Earlier this week Mayor Bloomberg suggested that prosecuting the child would serve no purpose.
Michael Bloomberg, NYC Mayor: “This was no a child who has a history of taking a gun and going out in the street. This is a child who tragically did something that I guess, if it wasn’t so tragic, you’d describe as a prank. I think the answer here is that our prayers have to be with the poor young girl who died and her family and we will do everything we can to keep these things from happening, but I don’t know what a penalty against an eight-year-old really would mean.”
The child himself was not in the court room here. Those charges have been dropped mainly because the city said they needed more time to continue their own investigation.
The boy’s lawyer spoke to reporters here this is what he had to say.
Samuel Karliner, Boy’s Attorney: “This was a tragic, tragic accident. Their sympathies and heartfelt condolences go out to the Sadiq family and they would like to begin moving on with their lives.”
chmom
Where was the bus driver? Since when do adults leave their car keys in running vehicles and run off!
oh well...
Putting him in foster care is a gurantee that he will be a criminal in a few years.
for chmom
u dont need the key or the engine on to release the brake
yosel g
it’s a start . someone is going to make money off of this.
i quess for the kid it’s better then rikers island.
We need Giuliani back
Mayor Bloomberg wants to combat crime by denying it.
While crime has skyrocketed in the past six years (since Giuliani left office), he hides behind false FBI statistics that seem to show that crime has gone down. These statistics are made by not allowing crimes to be reported, as in this case and in case of stolen cell phone and many more.
Bloomberg’s lousy law enforcement needs to be exposed. The emperor is naked !!!
crotty
amber was an A student. we are all very upset.
Be Real
This was a tragic accident. A child was killed, 2 families were destroyed. Anyone who could press charges against this boy will have a hard time answering how real criminals get off scott-free.
Oh, and foster care does not “guarantee that he will be a criminal in a few years”. There are many of our kids being raised in foster care in every frum community, and they do not invariably turn into criminals. It is a lack of proper parenting, proper supervision and other such factors that can rob a foster child of his potential. But this little boy already lacked all that good stuff. His father couldn’t care for him. Don’t you think he deserves a chance with a “normal” family?
antiracist
first of all, since when does foster care mean that a kid grows up a criminal? WOULD YOU PEOPLE PLEASE STOP BEING SUCH DARN RACISTS!! gosh, every comment has something racist about it…for G-ds sake, cant you people GROW UP?!
1o
i find that this is so unfair to the boy, he is to young, and besides the father did nothing to have his boy taken from him, and where was this (sorry) dumb busdriver? dose he let kids play with the controls on a regular basis?
Unity
It appears that this site has become a forum, for the 2 sides of our community to voice their unique opinions. A very positive development.
what race?
who ever said anything about race?