Two children were struck and killed by a tractor-trailer Thursday morning when they ran across a road to board a school bus near the town of Dillwyn in central Virginia, officials said.
At about 7:40 a.m., officers responded to a report of a fatal crash in Buckingham County just north of Dillwyn, which is about 65 miles west of Richmond, the Virginia State Police said in a statement.
A tractor-trailer was traveling north on Route 15 when a Buckingham County school bus, with its yellow flashing lights activated, approached from the opposite direction to pick up a group of children, the statement said. As the bus slowed, two children ran across the road toward it. The driver of the tractor-trailer braked, but the vehicle, loaded with 75,000 pounds of mulch and traveling downhill, hit the children before it could stop.
The children, identified as Tori Perez, 5, and Jaiden Bartee, 6, died at the scene.
The tractor-trailer driver, a 66-year-old man from Dillwyn, has a valid commercial driver’s license, according to police, and the tractor-trailer was in compliance with commercial vehicle regulations.
Skid marks show the path of the fully loaded tractor-trailer that attempted to stop. (Steve Helber/AP) No charges will be filed, police said.