A school bus driver fatally struck a 15-year-old girl in an apparent hit-and-run in Sheepshead Bay on Monday morning, the NYPD reported.
Police responded to a 911 call of a pedestrian struck in the roadway at Bedford Avenue and Avenue P in the Madison section of Sheepshead Bay shortly before 8 am.
Arriving officers found the girl lying in the roadway, and EMS workers pronounced her dead at the scene. The girl was identified by police as Antoninia Zatulovska, of Coney Island.
The driver was found later in Coney Island, the Daily News reports.
Police said Monday night that they had arrested 55-year-old Aleksandr Patlakh of Coney Island and charged him with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to use due care.
The incident occurred in the vicinity of James Madison High School, which is located at that intersection. Public school was not in session on Monday due to Martin Luther King Day, but many private schools held classes.
GRAPHIC (freezing before impact): 15YO girl killed in hit&run 8a at Bedford Ave & Ave P Brooklyn.Struck by school bus making right turn. Victim in crosswalk had right of way. Police using this video; believe driver unaware hit her. Witness says was Jewish school bus, kids onboard pic.twitter.com/ZWoPuRLEao
— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) January 17, 2022
Safe streets advocacy group Transportation Alternatives decried the teen’s death and in response called for street redesigns, pedestrianizing roadways, and reducing the number of vehicles on city streets.
“We are heartbroken and angry, and send our deepest condolences to the loved ones of the teenager killed outside a school in Sheepshead Bay this morning,” said TransAlt executive director Danny Harris in a statement. “Whether they are crossing the street, standing at bus stops, or being pushed in strollers, traffic crashes continue to kill our kids and remain the leading cause of injurious death for children across New York City. But, it does not have to be this way.”
It’s the second fatal car crash in that vicinity in two-and-a-half months. One short block away, at Bedford and Kings Highway, 27-year-old Moldir Zholtay was struck by a driver in a Ford van on Oct. 18. She died nine days later.
Update (8:15 pm): This story has been updated to include additional information from the NYPD and a statement from Transportation Alternatives.
