A family in Montreal’s Saint-Laurent borough is calling for justice after their five-year-old son was run over by a school bus. Abhiram Arkesh was hit by the very school bus he had just gotten off of. “I’m in shock. I couldn’t talk also, but I ask him, ‘What happened to you? What happened?’” said his mother, Monika Srinivas. “‘I am feeling pain, mama. I’m feeling pain.’” The young boy suffered multiple fractures in his leg and a broken pelvis. He spent three days in a coma, and doctors say he’s lucky he survived. “It’s cruel. It’s not his mistake, but he has to go through this,” said his father, Narayanappa Arkesh. Surveillance footage captured the collision, showing the driver taking off. The family says he came back to the scene minutes later. “He told me, ‘I didn’t do anything. You call the police.’ That’s it. He told me, and he went,” said Srinivas. The family says the driver received a $1,000 fine, adding they aren’t satisfied with how police handled the investigation. They say they were hoping for potential criminal charges. Montreal police (SPVM) tells CTV News that a collision investigation found no criminal intent. However, André Durocher, with CAA-Quebec, says the driver should have been more aware. “What struck me is that as soon as the doors of the bus closed, if you notice, there’s barely a second and the driver takes off,” he said. “You could clearly see on the video when he runs over the the young kid, that the bus sort of like moves like that [gestures up and down with hands]. So, that means obviously it’s impossible to know that you didn’t hit something.” In a statement to CTV News, the school bus company confirmed the bus driver was no longer employed with them, but that driving records are reviewed twice a year. The boy’s parents say the whole ordeal has traumatized them; the feeling of injustice, the constant doctor appointments and the financial stress of taking time off to care for their son have taken a toll. They say they are considering legal action.
