STOKESDALE, N.C. (WGHP) – A student from Stokesdale Elementary School received life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a vehicle while boarding a bus Thursday morning, the North Carolina Highway reported.
The child, a 6-year-old male, was transported to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where he remains in critical condition. His name has not been released.
At 6:47 a.m. James Michael Christman, 47, of Stokesdale was traveling west on NC 65 near Self Road in a 2020 Nissan Maxima when an eastbound Guilford County school bus was stopped, the NCHP said. The bus had its mechanical stop arm extended and flashing red lights engaged.
Christman disregarded those warning devices and struck the child who was moving south toward the stopped bus, the report said.
Impairment is not suspected to be a contributing factor in this crash, the report said, but investigators are set to meet with the Guilford County District Attorney’s Office about charges, which could include felonies, the report said.
Gabrielle Brown, a spokesperson for Guilford County Schools, confirmed the incident in an email to WGHP on Thursday.
“The district crisis team is at the school to support students,” Brown said.
Stokesdale serves grades K-5 and has about 557 students from northern Guilford County. The morning bell rings at 7:25 a.m., and school buses typically arrive between 7 and 7:10 a.m.
Sunrise is at 7:07, and it’s unclear what the road conditions were at the time the child was struck. NC 65 was closed for approximately four hours during the investigation and reopened at about 9:32 a.m.
