PARENTS' STORIES AND LETTERS

Child Run Down and Killed By Her Own School Bus
January 9, 2001

This only happens to other people; Right?  Don't be fooled into complacency. It could happen to you too!  Hundreds of children are injured or killed by school buses on our countries roads every year.  Here is just one of the many true stories about a child run down and killed by her own school bus.

As Howell Johnson prepared to leave home that Tuesday morning, headed for the base where he serves as a Sergeant in the US Army, he kissed his wife goodbye and looked forward to the family time that they would share together that evening when he returned home.

Christy Johnson, being a stay at home mom with two young children to help fill her day, readied her oldest daughter for school and looked forward to a day of laundry, house cleaning and the evening; when her family would again be together.

Little Aleana Johnson, Christy and Howell's 5-year-old daughter, got up and prepared for her day at Westmont Elementary School where she was a happy and cheerful kindergarten student. There were clothes to put on, beds to be made, faces to wash and teeth to brush; all before meeting the morning school bus for the trip to her elementary school.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary that cold Tuesday morning as Christy walked her daughter to the mornings school bus stop just three doors down the street. In fact; it was just another day in the life of the Johnson family. Christy kissed her daughter goodbye as she boarded the bus and looked forward to meeting Aleana that afternoon when she returned from school.

No-one could imagine the horrors that would unfold in just a few short hours from that last walk to the bus stop with her daughter Aleana.  Today was the day that little Aleana Johnson would die.

The school bell rang out loud and children rushed to the buses for their afternoon ride home. Thoughts were of snacks and afternoon cartoon shows as they boarded their buses and waited patiently for the driver to leave the school and take them home. Aleana Johnson was no different than any of the other children on her school bus that afternoon, except that she would never see her mother again.

Bus 870 made the last turn onto Highview Drive at approximately 3:45 pm that Tuesday. Some 6-7 minutes earlier than usual. With just less than a block to their stop 8 children readied their belongings and prepared to climb down the steps of the bus and head for their homes. 

As the bus passed the Johnson home, Christy who was sitting on her couch heard the bus, and realizing it was early made straight for her front door for the short one minute walk to the bus stop to meet her daughter. As she crossed her front lawn, only a hundred feet or so from the bus stop Christy watched as the bus, which had already let off its precious cargo, began pulling away from its stop.

As the children got off of the bus, a neighbor who had just left his home was sitting patiently in his pickup truck a few yards behind the bus as its lights flashed their warnings. Two little girls crossed in front of the bus and stepped onto the opposite curb, 5 other children went straight off of the bus to the facing curb and began to make their way up the drives to their homes. One last child, the 8th child, stepped off of the bus and began to cross the street in front of the bus to make her way to the opposite curb.

Sitting at my computer in the living room of my home, just steps from the bus stop, I had heard the bus arrive to let the children off and then as it began to take off again I recall thinking that the bus was early today. Something that was kind of surprising since the bus schedule had been so erratic over the past few weeks and being early was not the norm, in fact quite the opposite. Just a few days earlier these same children were over an hour late getting home from school.

On the other side of the street a teenager walked out of his front door to make his way down the street to a friends house. He watched as the bus pulled up to its stop and his little brother stepped off and ran towards him, happy to be home from school. Everyone and everything was in place.

The buses engine came to life as it pulled away from its stop. Without hesitation the 16,000+ pound bus rolled forward and began to make its way down the road.

The neighbor sitting patiently behind the bus saw that the bus was moving and readied himself to make his way on with his business. As suddenly as he began to make way he noticed something come out from under the buses left dual rear tires. He lay on his horn frantically blowing it to get the drivers attention. Across the street the teenager who was making his way to his friends noticed the object in the street and began screaming at the driver to stop, but it was too late. The driver evidently never saw Aleana Johnson in the path of the bus.

Horns blowing and children screaming could mean only one thing. The unthinkable had happened right here on our street.

From only fifty or so feet away Christy Johnson knew something was not right. The sounds of horror filled the street as children ran for their houses crying for someone to call 911 and get an ambulance. She began to make her way a little bit faster as the bus finally came to a stop only yards from where it had just let these eight children off.

I sprang from my seat to look out of the window in my living room knowing that something was wrong. As I looked out of my window, there, laying motionless in the middle of the street was a child. It was the lifeless body of little 5 year old Aleana Johnson.

For whatever reason, Aleana never made it from in front of her own school bus.

On Tuesday, January 9, 2001, Aleana Johnson died, crushed to death as the massive tires of her own school bus rolled over her fragile young body in the middle of her own street. She was killed instantly.

For more information on the friends of Aleana Johnson click here

©MMI Christy & Howell Johnson, Gregory L Sakata

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