Florida school bus runs over, kills 9-year-old who crawled underneath it to get a football

An elementary school student was killed when he crawled under a school bus during an afternoon drop-off and was run over, Florida Highway Patrol told news outlets.

The 9-year-old student of Lawton Chiles Elementary School was being dropped off at an Orlando apartment complex after school on Jan. 16 when the bus stopped in a roundabout, Florida Highway Patrol told WESH.

The boy, the last student on the bus, got off the school bus, WOFL reported, but then a football went under the bus and he chased after it.

The bus driver didn’t see the child crawl under the bus, FHP told WKMG, and the bus started to pull away.

The child was run over by the back tire of the bus and died, FHP told the outlet.

The student and the bus driver were not publicly identified by Florida Highway Patrol.

Highway patrol told WESH the bus driver, a 54-year-old man, had been driving for more than a decade and stayed on the scene to speak with investigators. No charges had been announced as of Jan. 17.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic death of one of our precious students who was involved in an accident with an OCPS bus late this afternoon,” Orange County Public Schools Superintendent Maria F. Vazquez said in a statement on Facebook. “To lose a child so suddenly and tragically is extremely difficult especially for family and friends.”

Vazquez said counselors would be available for students and staff of the elementary school dealing with the loss.

“It is absolutely devastating for this family that is here, but also for our investigators that have to investigate this type of scene,” FHP spokesperson Lt. Tara Crescenzi said in a news conference streamed by WOFL. “It’s going to be extremely tragic for a long period of time and probably for the rest of their lives for what has happened here tonight.”

Crescenzi said the department is reviewing surveillance footage and will provide additional details once the review is complete.

McClatchy News reached out to the Florida Highway Patrol on Jan. 17 for an update and is awaiting a response.