By ANNE BESTON
A mother arrived to pick up her son from a bus stop yesterday afternoon just minutes after he had been thrown under the wheels of a bus and killed.
It is believed the Browns Bay 12-year-old was fatally injured when his schoolbag caught in the door of a Stagecoach
bus and he was dragged a short way before being run over.
"As we understand it, the mother turned up at the scene while her son was lying there," said Senior Sergeant Tim Crosland of Takapuna.
"She didn't see it happen but was there soon afterwards."
Ambulance officers spent some time trying to resuscitate the boy at the scene but were unsuccessful.
The head of the Auckland police fatal accident team, Constable Mike Robb, said it appeared that the Murrays Bay Intermediate School pupil's bag was caught in the back door as he tried to get off the bus and he was thrown beneath its wheels.
"It sounds like he tripped as he was trying to get off the bus and the driver didn't see it," he said.
The accident happened when the number 60 "bendy" bus carrying schoolchildren north towards Browns Bay stopped at the corner of Browns Bay Rd and Argyle Rd to let off passengers.
A group of students from Westlake Boys High School and Rangitoto College travelling on the same bus told the Herald they shouted for the driver to stop when they saw the boy fall but the driver did not hear them.
Another witness, Zeryan Mohammad of Browns Bay, was following the bus as it drove away from the stop.
"I thought at first it was a ball that was caught under the bus but then I realised it was a boy," Mr Mohammad said.
The Stagecoach Auckland operations manager, Harold Williams, said the company would investigate the accident and interview the bus driver.
"The guy will be suffering quite a bit of shock. It's a terrible situation all round," he said.
"It's something we absolutely dread happening."
