a day ago
Charges laid in death of 7-year-old hit after getting off school bus
Dante Caranci, 7, died after being hit by a car while getting off the bus on Dec. 16 2024. (Source: O'Neil Funeral Home)
Charges have been laid after a young boy was killed while getting off the bus in December.
Atir Gayyur Mir, 47, of Milton, has been charged with dangerous operation of a conveyance causing death, and Jose Lema, 82, of London, has been charged with criminal negligence causing death.
According to police, Gayyur was working as a delivery driver at the time of the crash, and Lema was the driver of the school bus.
When asked why the driver of the bus was charged, police said, 'On Dec. 16, many safety steps were ignored by Mr. Lima, including failure to ensure, traffic was stopped, and it was safe for the child to exit the bus and cross the roadway.'
A question about the age of the bus driver was raised at the press conference held by London police on Thursday, where the media was told, 'There's no age restriction in regards to how old they are in order to get a bus driver's license, you have to be over the age of 21 years, but there's nothing in legislation that says there's a maximum... in order to get your bus license, and in this case, it was an E license that was required as it was a smaller bus that was under 24 passengers, so they do courses with the ministry, they do written tests, they do a driving test, they do medicals, they do vision tests as well. And then once they do that, once they get hired by the bus company, they do additional training as well with them.'
Police went on to say, 'It's every five years that they would then do additional testing that's required unless your company requests additional training.'
Dante Caranci, 7, was taken to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries after being hit by a car will getting off the bus near his home on Longwoods road.
'This tragedy has devastated a family and deeply affected our community,' said London police Chief Thai Truong. 'Our investigation was thorough and deliberate, and we are committed to ensuring accountability while continuing to prioritize road safety for every Londoner — especially our children.'
