Sep. 14—The parents of a 6-year-old who was hit and killed by a school bus in April have filed suit against Brock ISD, the school bus manufacturer Blue Bird and the company that sold the bus, Rush Truck Centers of Texas.
Attorney Kevin Koudelka said the civil suit, filed earlier this week, seeks compensatory damages for the family of Emory Sayre, as well as punitive damages as a result of negligence on the part of the manufacturer and company accused of making and selling a bus that is inherently dangerous.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were called out to the scene in the neighborhood along Canyon Creek Circle a little after 4 p.m. on April 25 regarding a child who had been struck by a school bus.
The bus, a 2021 Blue Bird for Brock ISD, was traveling southeast when it stopped to offload several students.
Sayre was the last of three to exit and cross in front of the bus. As she started walking in front of the bus from the right, the driver began to drive the bus and struck her, running over her with the front right and rear tires, according to the suit. She was life flighted to an area hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries approximately one hour later.
The lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of the school district for training and hiring, and negligence in failing to have basic safety features on the bus on the part of Blue Bird and Rush Truck Centers.
"We continue to offer our prayers and condolences to Emory's family," Brock ISD said in a statement Wednesday. "Based on potential legal action, the District doesn't have any further comments at this time."
According to her obituary, Emory was the "perfect mixture of girly and tomboy" with a personality that "took over the whole room." She spent all her time playing with her brothers and was rough and tough while wearing pink and glitter.
"She was outgoing, sweet, caring, talkative, sassy and the most perfect girl in the whole entire world," according to the obituary.
Koudelka said safety devices for school buses have been on the market since 2016, adding that there is no uniform requirement, statewide or nationally, for what safety elements a bus should have.
Since the accident, Brock ISD has reportedly added crossing arms to buses.
"Every car sold today has sensors on them. These are very basic devices that should be standard equipment on something as important as a school bus," Koudelka said. "We're hauling precious cargo, children that don't know any better, where to walk and where not to walk.
"Buses are full of blind spots ... and to have buses that are on the road that do not have extremely basic safety features, it's a manufacturing and a marketing defect on behalf of the people that make and sell buses. There are a number of devices that could be — and should be — on all buses to prevent something like this horrible tragedy."