A Kingston High School student was hit by a school bus carrying 38 students of J. Watson Bailey Middle School on Friday afternoon, sustaining serious injuries after reportedly darting into oncoming traffic.
Dominick Kelder, a 16-year-old Kingston resident is being treated at Albany Medical Center for a fractured skull, fractured pelvis and multiple lacerations. According to Kingston City School District Superintendent Paul Padalino, the student was sitting on a wall near Dunkin’ Donuts before he and his friends crossed Broadway.
“He realized he had forgotten something and when he went back he was not in the crosswalk,” said Padalino. “The bus driver didn’t see him and he was struck by the bus.”
The driver, 69-year-old Hurley resident Douglas Constant, was not charged by police. In their report, Kingston city police said Kelder moved so quickly back into the southbound lane that Constant did not have time to react.
The district posted about the incident on their official website earlier this week, including tips on bus safety provided by school bus company First Student. Padalino said that with a high school campus on a busy street with a large student population, keeping aware of simple safety rules can be crucial.
“I took a ride down Broadway yesterday at dismissal time to see what it looks like down there this year,” Padalino said on Wednesday morning. “Do we have a lot of kids crossing the road? Do we have a lot of double-parked cars? We do. Broadway is busy always. When students let out — you can sit there and watch as I did yesterday — it’s 2,000 kids streaming out of the front door. If they stay on the sidewalk and use the crosswalk it’ll be safe. But when they walk out in between cars or where there aren’t crosswalks anything can happen.”
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