Kindergarten child and mother die in collision with bus in Mamaroneck

A male kindergarten student and his mother were killed Thursday when they were struck by a minivan on their way to Mamaroneck Avenue Elementary School in Mamaroneck, a school district spokesman said.

According to Mamaroneck Village Police, the boy was 6 years old and a student at the school. His mother was 43. Both lived in the village. Police said the boy was pronounced dead at the scene. The mother was taken to a nearby hospital where she later died.

According to police, an initial investigation revealed that the bus was traveling eastbound from New Street and turned left onto Mamaroneck Ave. on a green light. The bus was headed to school and had the driver, a 68-year-old Mount Vernon man, several students and an aide on board. As the bus turned, several parents and children were crossing the street at a pedestrian crossing, according to police.

Police said no charges have been filed against the bus driver. Police have not yet released the identities of the boy or his mother, nor the driver of the vehicle that struck them.

The accident occurred at about 8:30 a.m. about half a block from the school on Mamaroneck Avenue, across from the shopping center with Chipotle, CVS and North Shore Farms.

“There is nothing worse for a community than the loss of a life, and we know that everyone in the Mamaroneck and Larchmont communities is heartbroken by this news,” the school district said in a message to the community. “We also know that the death of a child is especially difficult for other children to process. At this time, we have informed our staff of this incredible loss, and social workers and psychologists are fully deployed at MAS.”

At the scene, a Royal Coach Lines minibus pulled up outside the mall and a yellow backpack was lying on the road about 20 feet behind it. The backpack was removed from the scene at 11:23 a.m. and loaded into a police SUV. The minibus was towed at 12:13 p.m.

John Hunter of Mamaroneck was leaving mass at St. Vito’s Catholic Church when he heard the accident. Hunter came over and saw that a woman and a boy had been hit. Emergency services were on the scene immediately and cared for the mother. Hunter went to the boy.

“There was nothing I could do at the time. It was just catastrophic,” Hunter told Journal News/lohud.

The school district said it is mobilizing crisis support teams and working with the Larchmont Mamaroneck Community Counseling Center, the Bereavement Center of Westchester, the mobile crisis team, and school psychologists and social workers. The school said it will offer the affected community the opportunity to meet with psychologists at Mamaroneck Avenue School starting at noon Friday.

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