A 7-year-old walking to his school bus in a St. Paul crosswalk Thursday morning was critically injured when a driver struck him.
Paramedics rushed the boy to the hospital. Police said he was stable and he was listed in critical condition at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare later in the day on Thursday. He sustained a head injury, police said.
Ramaden Waliye was crossing a West Side street about 6:30 a.m. with two children who are his siblings; they were uninjured. The 59-year-old driver of the vehicle stayed on the scene and is cooperating with the investigation, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.
The three children were crossing from west to east across South Robert Street at Wood Street — between Plato Boulevard and Cesar Chavez Street.
Daniel Luke Hernandez, of St. Paul, drove through the intersection as he headed south on Robert Street, police said. The bus was waiting in the northbound lane with its lights flashing.
A preliminary breath test of Hernandez didn’t show any signs of alcohol in his system, Linders said. Officers did not issue Hernandez a citation at the scene. The investigation remains underway.
The bus was going to Higher Ground Academy, a charter school on Marshall Avenue near Hamline Avenue in St. Paul, WCCO-TV reported.