N.Y.C. School Bus Driver Kills 11-Year-Old Girl in Hit-and-Run: Police

Police later found the driver and brought him in for questioning, an NYPD spokesperson told PEOPLE

NEED TO KNOW

• An 11-year-old girl was killed in a hit-and-run bus accident in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Thursday, Feb. 5
• The girl was brought to Maimonides Hospital in “critical condition” and later died from her injuries
• The bus driver has been brought in for questioning, according to a NYPD spokesperson

An 11-year-old girl was killed in a hit-and-run bus accident in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Thursday, Feb. 5.

The incident occurred at approximately 3 p.m. local time at the intersection of 23rd Avenue and Bath Avenue in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, a spokesperson for the NYPD tells PEOPLE.

The girl was brought to Maimonides Hospital in "critical condition" and later died from her injuries, police said. The bus driver has been identified as a 62-year-old man, the NYPD tells PEOPLE, citing a preliminary investigation.

The driver allegedly fled the scene of the accident and was later found in a different neighborhood in Brooklyn, according to the spokesperson, and taken in for questioning.

Video surveillance footage obtained by the CBS New York shows the victim attempting to cross Bath Avenue on the crosswalk, where she has the right of way as a pedestrian. The girl is seen crossing the road as the school bus makes a right turn from 23rd Avenue onto Bath Avenue and hits her.

Wael Alghithi, a worker at Bath Healthy Deli and Grill, claims the girl had just bought chocolate at the store before she was killed in the hit-and-run.

“She came in every day. She bought chocolate and a soda,” Alghithi, 22, told the New York Daily News. “She left here when she got hit. Oh my god, she didn’t usually go that way. She was all alone.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“Maybe she thought he was going to stop for her,” Alghithi continued, per the outlet. “When he hit her, he kept moving like he didn’t see her. She was under the school bus, being dragged and he kept moving. She was still holding the chocolate in her hand. … It was bad, man. Bad.”

The investigation remains ongoing, and charges have yet to be filed, per the NYPD. The victim has not been publicly identified.

Read the full article here