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Caught on camera: Driver nearly hits 10-year-old heading to school bus

Posted at 4:40 PM, May 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-17 15:40:56-04

MINNESOTA (KARE) – A 33 second video shows how close a fourth grader came to being hit by an SUV that failed to stop for a school bus.

The video, released by the Minnesota State Patrol, is from January. You can see the school bus with its stop-arm extended and red lights flashing. To the driver’s left, Zumbrota-Mazeppa Elementary School fourth-grader Ambriel Johnson, 10, can be seen crossing the road as the driver swerves and nearly hits her.

“We were lucky. Very lucky on this one,” said bus driver, Jim Perrotti. He then put his two pointer fingers about six inches apart and said, “Between life and death.”

Wabasha County Sheriff Rodney Bartsh said they were able to find the 20-year-old driver later that day and he admitted it was him. He pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor, failing to stop at a school bus stop arm.

“We still don’t know exactly what his distraction was. We can not prove that it was his phone,” Sheriff Bartsh said. “But have all of us been distracted while driving? I know I have.”

Read more: https://kare11.tv/2M0zdVo