A 19-year-old driver was arrested Friday morning after he allegedly hit a man and two sisters after trying to pass a school bus at a bus stop in Forsyth County, authorities said.
The victims were waiting at the end of a driveway on Buford Highway near Bonnie Brea Road about 7 a.m. when a blue Toyota Camry, driven by Christopher Ray Frachiseur, tried to pass the bus and jumped the curb, striking the girls and the man on the sidewalk, the Forysth County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The man was identified as Jose Arturo Corejo-Nunez, 43, who is a relative of the girls. The sisters are ages 6 and 9, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The bus pulls up, turns on its lights, stop sign, all of that,” Forsyth County Schools spokeswoman Jennifer Caracciolo said. “The car comes up behind it and goes around on the right.”
The 9-year-old girl is in serious condition and remains in intensive care, Forsyth County sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Doug Rainwater told AJC.com. The 6-year-old and Corejo-Nunez are stable, the sheriff’s office posted Friday afternoon.
Frachiseur, who was not injured, was arrested and taken to the Forsyth County Jail. He is charged with three felony counts of serious injury by vehicle, driving under the influence of drugs, reckless driving, failure to stop for a school bus loading or unloading, driving too fast for conditions and due care while operating a motor vehicle.
The red lights and the bus’ stop arm were activated at the time, authorities said. Frachiseur told deputies he realized he was “too close to the bus” and decided to drive around it to the right, Rainwater told Channel 2 Action News.
There were 20 Haw Creek Elementary students on the bus at the time, authorities said. A second bus was sent to the scene to collect the students and take them to the school, where counselors were waiting.
The school’s principal and assistant principal went to the hospital to be with the injured students, Caracciolo said.
Buford Highway was blocked for nearly two hours before reopening about 9:10 a.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
The incident remains under investigation.
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