A 7-year-old boy has died after a car struck him near a school bus stop in Bethesda, Maryland, police confirmed Thursday to News4.
The news came a day after the boy was hospitalized in critical condition from being struck.
He had been standing at the corner of King Charles Way and Grosvenor Lane with his father and 18-month-old brother, waiting on a Montgomery County school bus about 8:20 a.m., when a gold Honda Accord going westbound on King Charles Way ran off the road and struck them, police said.
Medics took 7-year-old Muhammad Elsyaf and his father to the hospital. The boy suffered life-threatening injuries, and his dad had minor injuries, police said.
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The toddler, who was in a stroller, was unharmed, police said.
Witnesses described a horrific scene. The driver offered an apology in a brief interview with News4.
“I lost control, and it was out of my control,” the man said. "[…] I’m very, very sorry.”
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Exactly what caused the crash was unclear. The driver was not immediately charged.
A resident said he heard the crash.
“I heard a really loud bang, and then I heard a kid scream. It was a frantic scream — very bad scream. My windows were closed and I could still hear the kid screaming,” Homi Erani said.
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Resident Allen Hassani said he heard a loud bang as he headed to work, went to help and called 911. He said he saw the boy unconscious.
“Horrible, horrible morning,” he said. “I don’t want to cry.”
Witnesses said the driver was heading out of a townhouse community when he jumped a curb, drove over plants and careened into a grassy area where children were waiting for their bus. The car then crossed Grosvenor Lane, jumped another curb, hit a sign and crashed into a bush.
A Montgomery County Public Schools bus remained on the scene after the crash, as well as the driver and his sedan.
Montgomery County police said its crash reconstruction unit was investigating and they want anyone with information about what happened to call 240-773-6620.
Montgomery County Council member Evan Glass tweeted, “We have to do everything we can to make our roads safer for all users and ensure that our kids are safe when they walk to school and wait for the school bus.”
“One, we have to rethink and redesign our roads,” he told News4. “And so that will take engineering. It will take money to make those changes, but we also have to have a cultural shift.”
