School officials say the 13-year-old Gray-New Gloucester Middle School student has severe injuries and will undergo surgery, but is expected to recover.
| Gillian Graham, Press Herald |
The 13-year-old middle school student hit by a tractor-trailer truck after getting off a school bus on Tuesday afternoon remains hospitalized as police continue to investigate the crash.
The Gray-New Gloucester Middle School student was rushed to Maine Medical Center with serious injuries after he was hit while crossing Lewiston Road (Route 100) in Gray. He had multiple injuries and will have surgery on his leg, said MSAD 15 Superintendent Craig King, who spoke with the student’s mother Wednesday morning.
“He’ll have a long road to recovery, but he will recover,” King said.
The crash happened shortly after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday not far from Spring Meadows Golf Course. Emergency personnel arrived to find the boy semi-conscious after being hit by a Bard Trucking 18-wheeler driven by 49-year-old Jeffery Lane of Farmington.
Police and school officials say the bus was stopped at a regular bus stop with its flashing lights and flashing stop arm engaged.
Federal law requires school buses to have a number of safety measures, including amber and red flashing lights and an automatic stop signal arm on the left side of the bus to alert drivers that they should stop to allow students to board or leave a stopped bus. Buses also must have safety crossing arms that require students to walk at least 8 to 10 feet in front of the bus to cross a road.
The school bus and truck were both traveling northbound toward New Gloucester, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday but has not answered questions about whether the truck was attempting to pass the bus or how fast it was traveling.
A 2019 state law authorizes school districts to place external cameras that record the license plates of vehicles that unlawfully pass stopped buses. The law allows a $250 fine for a first offense and a 30-day license suspension for a second offense. King said the bus was equipped with a camera and the recording has been turned over to police.
The school bus was not hit by the truck and the 17 remaining middle and high school students on board were not physically hurt, King said.
The crash is being investigated by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
After the crash, the remaining students on the bus were taken back to Gray-New Gloucester High School to meet with school counselors and social workers and be reunited with their families. Counseling also was available Wednesday at the middle school, high school and transportation department and was being used by staff and students, King said.
Principal Richard Riley-Benoit, who visited the student at the hospital Tuesday night, said in a letter to the school community that the teen was “in great pain and had severe injuries, but he could speak to me.” There has already been an outpouring of support from the community, and parents are beginning to organize ways to help the family, he said.
Heather Phillips, the teen’s mother, started a GoFundMe fundraiser to help cover medical costs and the family’s expenses in the coming weeks. She wrote that her “wonderful, thoughtful, sweet 13-year-old boy” is “pretty beat up” and was having surgery on his left foot. More than $11,000 has been raised by mid-day Wednesday.
Anyone who wanted to send a card to the student as he recovers can drop it off at the middle school office, Riley-Benoit said.
King said the incident is a reminder that everyone needs to be cautious and slow down to make sure the district’s 1,836 students get to and from school safely.
“I think it’s a miracle that this student has come out of this accident surviving,” he said. “I think he and his family are very courageous in working through this ordeal.”
NGX editor’s note: This Press Herald article was posted at 11 a.m. and updated around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31. Find the article at the Press Herald at this link.
