Close call: Motorcycle nearly hits kid while passing stopped Iredell Co. school bus

TROUTMAN, N.C. — A 6-year-old boy was nearly hit by someone riding a motorcycle past a stopped school bus on Thursday.

According to the Iredell-Statesville School District, it happened just after 2:30 p.m. in Troutman just west of Interstate 77. A bus was stopped on Carlyle Road when a motorcyclist passed by it. The bus had its warning lights activated and stop arm extended, troopers said.

Channel 9 obtained video from highway patrol that shows an elementary school student jumping back from an oncoming motorcycle as he was crossing the road. The driver of the motorcycle continued north.

The school system said that stopped school buses are passed about 40 times a day in Iredell County.

Troopers shared information and photos of a person of interest they have identified in the case. The driver appeared to be on a Kawasaki Ninja 400 and was wearing a black and red helmet, a black Alpine Stars Jacket with red and white on the right arm, and a red Adidas backpack. The motorcyclist was also in the area of Highway 21 at Julian Place at 2:40 p.m., they say, and also at Highway 115 North at Pine Lake Preparatory School around 4:20 p.m.

‘He just didn’t even care’

Channel 9′s Evan Donovan spoke to the little boy, Maverick, and his mom about what happened.

“I about got hit by a motorcycle,” Maverick said.

“What happened? Did he not see you?” Donovan asked.

“He did see me, but he just didn’t even care,” Maverick said.

His mom, Carrie Richards, said she first heard about the incident as Maverick was going to bed Thursday night.

“I didn’t know what to think because he told me that a motorcycle almost hit him in the face,” she said.

She hadn’t seen the video until Donovan showed it to her and was shocked after she watched it.

“Oh my gosh!” Richards said.

If you listen closely to the video, you can hear someone lean on the horn, though it’s not clear if it was the bus or the motorcycle. Then two other kids, who Richards said live next door, throw their arms up in disbelief.

“Are you OK?” Donovan asked Maverick.

“I didn’t get hit, I didn’t,” he said.

His dad said he would have felt a lot better if the motorcyclist had stopped to check on Maverick.

“I’ve ridden crotch rockets all my life -- they can stop in the width of a house,” Norman Richards said. “That guy didn’t even come back to say he was sorry or check on anyone. That would have made a difference to me, because we all make mistakes.”

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol is looking into the incident and is asking the public for information. If you know anything, please call the highway patrol at 828-466-5500 or *47.

The rules

In talking to drivers Friday, Donovan found there was some confusion on when you have to stop for a school bus. T he easiest thing to remember is that you almost always have to stop.

According to North Carolina law, when you’re going the same direction as the bus -- if it stops, you stop.

When you’re going in the opposite direction as the bus, you still have to stop, even if it’s a major road. Exceptions include:

• If the road has a median
• If the road has at least four lanes plus a center turning lane

South Carolina law is slightly more permissive, but for simplicity, these same rules will keep everyone safe there, too.

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