A school bus will be "torn apart" to determine what caused the massive vehicle to nearly crush a 5-year-old girl in Moreno Valley as school was getting out Monday, authorities said.
That girl remained in critical condition early Tuesday with a crushed pelvis, lacerated liver and a collapsed lung, officials said.
Terry Nunley lives near Box Spring Elementary School and witnessed the crash, which happened about 2:30 p.m., just as children were being dismissed for the day. Somehow, the bus started rolling backwards.
“Everybody was kinda crying and kind of in shock,” Nunley said.
A member of the school’s faculty administered CPR to the little girl, who was pinned between a metal gate to the school’s parking lot and the bus.
"There was a line of students and several were able to move out of the way, the one who was injured was the one who was not able to move out of the way and unfortunately she was the one who was struck," said Sgt. Daniel Temple, with Riverside California Highway Patrol.
There were at least two students on the bus at the time of the incident, but officials would not say late Monday whether there was a driver.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating.
Photo Credit: Casper News