Truck kills 6-year-old twins and their big sister at school bus stop, Indiana cops say
Tony Slocum said it’s rare to see authorities crying at a crime scene — but it happened Tuesday morning when a truck rammed into a school bus stop and killed three siblings.
“I haven’t seen first responders and troopers cry in a long time,” Slocum, a sergeant with the Indiana State Police, told ABC7. “When the children’s father had to make identification of his children, that was just gut-wrenching. We saw tears today and our hearts just go out to them because most of us have children and we can’t imagine the pain that he felt today.”
Indiana State Police tweeted Tuesday morning that a vehicle hit and killed three children waiting at a school bus stop in Rochester in Fulton County, Indiana. Police say two of the children were 6-year-old twins, WSBT reported, and they were with their 9-year-old sister.
An 11-year-old boy who was not related to those children was also injured at the bus stop, and was airlifted to a hospital, police said. On Tuesday afternoon police said in an update that the injured boy was “in surgery with multiple broken bones and internal injuries.”
The children killed were heading to Mentone Elementary School, while the 11-year-old was going to Tippecanoe Valley Middle School, state police said.
The news caught the attention of Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who expressed his condolences in a tweet.
A school bus was at the stop with a flashing stop sign displayed when the fatal crash happened, police say, according to NBC Chicago.
Police arrested the driver — Alyssa L. Shepherd, a 24-year-old woman who lives in rural Rochester — on Tuesday afternoon, state police said in a news release.
Shepherd faces three felony counts of reckless homicide and one misdemeanor count of passing a school bus with its stop arm extended and causing injury. She’s being held at Fulton County Jail on $15,000 bond, police said.
Police say the bus was empty during the jarring accident, NBC Chicago reported. Slocum told the outlet that the tragedy should serve as a wake-up call.
“I just can’t imagine the pain that family is going through,” he said, according to NBC Chicago. “The one thing I’d like to tell people — we all have a responsibility to share the road in a safe manner.
“I don’t know why this crash — why this person did not see the stop arm extended,” he continued, “but we all need to pay a little more attention because it’s all our responsibility to make sure our children get to and from school safely.”
He added that “we don’t want another family to have to go through this,” as reported by ABC7
“When those stop arms are extended, by law, you are required to stop,” Slocum told the outlet. “This is the exact reason why.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with details on charges in the incident, and with an update on the injured child.
This story was originally published October 30, 2018 at 2:05 PM.