A West Shore mother is speaking out after her son was hit by an SUV after getting off the school bus.
Kay Judas says her 11-year-old son, Hudson, got off the school bus on the Royal Roads campus on May 27 around 3:10 p.m. and was crossing the street while the school bus stop sign was still engaged.
While crossing the road, she says the driver of an SUV passed the bus, striking her son.
“He was actually hit by the mirror on the backside of his arm and its one swung him around, and he slammed his left side up against the car including his face because his little teeth were loose a little bit and his mouth hurt,” Judas told CHEK News in an interview.
“He said that the driver did stop, got out…And the driver opened his passenger door and offered him a seat, and Hudson was like ‘stranger who just hit me with a car I’m not getting in.'”
Judas says the bus driver did not get out to help her son and did not exchange details with the driver.
“He said the whole time the bus driver is yelling out the window, but he didn’t get out,” Judas said. “And he’s yelling ‘it’s a $10,000 fine’ and yelling at the guy.”
When she reached out to the Sooke School District transportation department, the bus driver had not informed anyone that the incident happened.
CHEK News reached out to the district for an interview, but only the following statement was made available.
“We are aware of an incident that occurred on Friday afternoon when a Sooke School District bus was discharging children at a scheduled stop with lights flashing and their stop sign out. This matter is now under RCMP investigation and we are cooperating with their investigation,” the statement says.
“The Sooke School District will also conduct an internal review of our transportation safety protocols and processes as we do after any incident or accident.”
When asked if the bus driver was still working, the district said there is a review of safety protocols.
“We are reviewing our transportation safety protocols and processes in light of this incident,” the statement said.
“As a school district that transports over 4000 students to and from school each day, motorists on the road play a critical role in ensuring the safety of our student riders and drivers. We encourage all motorists to take that responsibility seriously and to obey traffic laws when approaching a school bus with their lights out and stop sign activated.”
When Judas spoke with an officer from West Shore RCMP, she says the officer said she had still not received information from the district.
“I asked the police today, I said ‘they were supposed to write a report for you. Did he write any more descriptive things than what Hudson could give?'” Judas asked. “And she said that they hadn’t gotten that from the school district yet.”
Judas says that RCMP told her that although the district has began outfitting school buses with cameras, the bus Hudson was on did not have a camera.
Now, West Shore RCMP are looking to speak with the driver of the SUV.
The vehicle is described as a late model blue four door SUV and the driver is described as a caucasian male, 55-60 years old with short grey hair, wearing glasses, around 5’6″ with stocky build.
Police are asking for the driver of the blue SUV and witnesses who observed the collision or have dash cam video to come forward.
Judas says she is disappointed the bus driver didn’t do more to help her son.
“I can’t prevent somebody from breaking the law,” Judas said. “But the people that were supposed to keep my kids safe when they’re not with me did not his safe person in that situation was not safe.”
CHEK News
