Officials: 6-year-old struck by school bus

No critical injuries; swelling in both legs continue

EL DORADO — A 6-yearold boy from El Dorado was accidentally hit by a school bus on Wednesday while crossing the street; currently he’s being treated in Little Rock and the bus driver has been suspended, officials said.

At 4 p.m. an El Dorado School District bus was making its rounds and when it arrived at the 600 block of Nick Springs Road the boy exited and walked in front of the bus. While the child was still in the right lane of traffic, the driver accelerated, striking the boy with the front-left corner of the bus, according to the Union County Sheriff ’s Office.

“A bus driver has to make sure the kids get off the bus and across the street safely,” said Ricky Roberts, Union County sheriff. “And in this case either he dropped his book or stopped while he was walking in front and the driver didn’t see him. Obviously, it wasn’t intentional. We feel for the little boy and the bus driver.”

Authorities charged the bus driver, Wanda F. Leichman, 69, of El Dorado, with a citation of careless and prohibited driving.

She has been suspended from her job indefinitely, said Jim Tucker, superintendent of the El Dorado School District, who was notified of the incident roughly an hour after it happened on Wednesday.

“I’ve worked in the district for 11 years and I’ve never heard of anything like this happening here before,” Tucker said. “It’s an unfortunate incident and we’re very fortunate there weren’t any life-threatening injuries,” Tucker said.

Shortly after the incident, the boy was sent to the emergency room for treatment at the Medical Center of South Arkansas, where doctors found no life-threatening injuries. He was later released from the hospital that day.

Thursday morning, the boy’s parents noticed intense swelling on the lower half of his body and sent him to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock for an assessment. “He’s swollen and it’s worse than before,” said the boy’s father who wished to be unnamed. “This should never happen; I mean the school ran over my child.”

More information will be revealed at a later time.