A 73-year-old Bronx woman was hit and killed by a school bus in Queens shortly after she dropped her grandkids off at school Friday morning, according to police and her family.
The senior – identified by CBS New York as Maria Rodriguez – was attempting to cross 86th Street just before 7:30 a.m. when she was struck as the bus was making a left turn from 107th Avenue in Ozone Park, cops said.
Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Some members of the victim’s grief-stricken family dropped to the ground in anguish after they arrived at the scene.
“She was very lively, she was the happy person of the family,” grandson Joel Rodriguez told CBS New York. “She would always gather everybody together, I don’t know how we’re going to do it for this Thanksgiving.”
Rodriguez lived in the Bronx but was visiting her daughter in Queens and was helping out the woman’s family — which included bringing the kids to school, the outlet reported.
The NYPD could not immediately confirm as of Friday afternoon whether any children were on the bus, but ABC 7 reported that four kids were on board, all younger than 12.
None of the youngsters were hurt.
The bus driver, Maria Marte, 47, of East Elmhurst, remained at the scene and was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care, authorities said.