The household of an 8-year-old autistic boy run over by a Boston Public College bus final December filed a lawsuit in opposition to the district’s embattled transportation supplier, Transdev, alleging negligence on the a part of the corporate and its driver.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court docket, pertains to a crash that left 8-year-old Reginald Oates with “serious bodily injuries” together with a fractured femur that required “two months of in-patient hospital and rehabilitation care, and multiple surgeries.”
It comes simply over per week after the town’s mayor and faculty superintendent ordered an impartial investigation into Transdev, as a consequence of an April bus crash that killed a 5-year-old boy, Lens Arthur Joseph, in Hyde Park.
“As a result of the collision,” the lawsuit states, “minor plaintiff Oates suffered great pain of body and anguish of mind, significant medical expenses have been incurred and will be incurred for his care and treatment, and he has suffered and will suffer a substantial loss of his ability to engage in the normal enjoyment of his life.”
Transdev mentioned it “cannot comment on active litigation.”
The lawsuit hinges on sprint cam footage from the varsity bus that struck Oates and Boston police experiences from the Dec. 6, 2024 crash.
Per the grievance, the bus was pushed by Laguerre onto a college sidewalk the place Oates was strolling with a college aide to his bus throughout an everyday afternoon dismissal on the Curley Okay-8 Decrease College in Jamaica Plain. The driving force, Laguerre was allegedly seen on sprint cam video sitting behind the wheel together with his eyes closed whereas the bus idled on the sidewalk.
As Oates and the varsity aide, recognized within the police report as 37-year-old Jermaine Bell, have been strolling onto the sidewalk within the path of the idling bus, Laguerre is allegedly seen on video opening his eyes, instantly putting the bus in gear, and accelerating ahead, the lawsuit states.
Laguerre is then allegedly seen immediately turning the bus within the path of Oates and Bell after which working over each on the sidewalk.
Laguerre informed police he was swerving to keep away from hitting Oates and “a vehicle” that had “cut in front of him” as “he was pulling the bus forward.” He mentioned he unintentionally hit the fuel pedal as a substitute of the brake, which brought on him to strike each victims and harm two fences, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit states that no different automobiles have been seen on sprint cam video reducing in entrance of the bus on the time of the collision and that the motive force, Laguerre, seemed “dazed” after the collision and appeared to say one thing to the bus monitor who was positioned at the back of the car.
Laguerre “then begins to smile and laugh about the accident and shrugs his shoulders as if he was unsure what happened,” the lawsuit states.
The collision was “due to the negligence of defendant Laguerre, who was at all relevant times operating in the course and scope of his employment for Transdev,” the lawsuit states.
Laguerre was cited by the Boston Police Division for working negligently in order to hazard and for unsafe operation of a motorcar, together with operation on a sidewalk, the lawsuit states.
About 5 months later, in late April, one other BPS bus crash turned lethal, when Jean Charles, a bus driver with lapsed credentials and a spotty driving document, struck and killed 5-year-old kindergartener Lens Arthur Joseph in Hyde Park. Charles resigned after being suspended and forward of his termination listening to.
Mayor Michelle Wu and BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper launched an impartial evaluation of Transdev, the varsity district’s contracted transportation supplier since 2013, on Might 23.
