Crime, Law and Justice

Boy critically hurt in crash as he was about to board school bus

St. Paul police say a boy was struck.
A 7-year-old boy was struck by a vehicle as he attempted to board a school bus in St. Paul Thursday morning.
Tim Nelson | MPR News

Updated: 12:04 p.m.

A 7-year-old boy was struck by a vehicle as he attempted to board a school bus in St. Paul Thursday morning.

St. Paul police said the crash happened about 6:30 a.m. at the intersection of Wood and South Robert streets, near a marked crosswalk, as the victim, Ramadan Ahmed Wailye, was crossing the street.

“He was going to get on a school bus that was waiting across the street,” said police spokesperson Steve Linders. “As he crossed, he was in a group with two other students and the pickup, for whatever reason, drove through the intersection and struck him.”

Police said the boy remains in critical but stable condition.

Linders said the driver of the truck stopped at the scene of the crash and was cooperating with police. He said that a preliminary breath test on the driver indicated the crash didn’t involve alcohol.

The incident remains under investigation.

Police are also trying to determine if the school bus’s stop arm was extended at the time of the crash.

The incident comes just days after lawmakers held a hearing on a proposal to launch a new campaign to get drivers to stop for school buses as kids get on and off. State officials say there have been more than 1,000 citations a year for school bus stop arm violations in the last three years.