Viral Video Shows Girl Dragged By School Bus

Being aware at all times is an absolutely essential part of being a school bus driver, in a video that went viral over the weekend shows the frightening consequences of what happens when drivers aren’t paying attention.

The video from Louisville, Kentucky, captures a young student getting caught in the bus door and being dragged alongside the school bus for a considerable distance. Witnesses say a car sped along the bus honking its horn to try to stop it.

The events in the video occurred Friday afternoon, as a Jefferson County Public School bus was letting off a young student, when “apparently her backpack got stuck in the door,” according to a statement from Louisville Metro Police Department spokesperson Dwight Mitchell.

Witness Esther Karschner told ABC News she did not see the girl step off the bus, however, she did see the girl’s legs hanging out of the bus as it drove down the road.

 “I saw a car go flying by behind the bus real fast,” Karschner said. “Shortly after the car stopped the bus. Her bookbag was caught on the bottom of the door when she got out.

“The bus driver got out and they called the police,” she said. “It wasn’t a very pretty sight.”

Police spokesman Mitchell said the girl was dragged approximately 100 feet, but Karschner estimates it was much further – between 600 to 1,000 feet.

“It’s very frightening,” Karschner said. “She was a little trooper. She was of course probably in shock.”

Mitchell says the young girl was taken to a hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries but does not have an update on her status.

According to a report from local ABC affiliate WHAS-TV, the footage contained in the video below was caught by a neighbor’s surveillance camera.

Accidents like this are completely avoidable with improved training and driver requirements. School Transportation News recently published an article investigating what districts can do to ensure preventable incidents like the one caught on video Friday never happen again.

https://youtu.be/RDW5qp9ejbQ