The search continues for the driver who hit a Greenwood teen while he was getting on a school bus.
Greenwood police were called about 7 a.m. to the intersection of Main and Meridian streets in downtown Greenwood on a report of a child struck by a car.
A 14-year-old boy was crossing the eastbound lanes of Main Street to get on the bus when a dark-colored, four-door sedan struck him. The bus was completely stopped in the westbound lane of Main Street with its stop arm out and lights activated when the suspect sedan disregarded it and struck the victim, according to a Greenwood Police Department news release.
The sedan fled the scene and was last seen traveling eastbound on Main Street at high speeds, according to the news release.
The victim was taken to Franciscan Health Indianapolis in stable condition with a possible head injury, police said. The teen was released from the hospital this afternoon and is doing well at home, said Terry Terhune, superintendent of Greenwood Community Schools. The name of the Greenwood Community High School student has not been released.
Greenwood schools was notified of the incident shortly after it happened, and the bus driver and transportation staff called 911 immediately. The school bus had cameras on it, but it did not have a stop-arm camera, Terhune said.
Detectives spent the day reviewing security camera footage from areas near the incident and has video of the vehicle. The make and model of the car were not being released immediately due to it being an active investigation, said James Ison, police chief.
“We are going to continue to investigate and find out who did this. They can only help themselves by doing the right thing and coming forward,” Ison said.
The high school made counselors available to students who were on the bus at the time of the incident. The district also received several notes from other Greenwood families offering support to the victim and his family, Terhune said.
He is grateful the student is home safe with his family, he said.
“That’s the law (and) please follow the law to keep our kids safe,” Terhune said.
People should pay attention to what they’re doing while they’re driving and think about how they would feel if they struck a child, possibly injuring or killing them. Greenwood police officers routinely follow buses on their routes to help prevent stop-arm violations, but they can’t be everywhere all the time, Ison said.
Anyone with information about the dark-colored sedan with fresh front-end damage is asked to call Greenwood police at 317-882-9191, or they can make an anonymous report online at greenwood.in.gov/police.
