WARWICK — One moment, 15-year-old Kimberly Pisaturo, a smart and popular sophomore at Pilgrim High School, was walking to school, looking down at her cell phone, witnesses say, when she stepped into a crosswalk running alongside busy Warwick Avenue and into the path of a turning school bus.
She died there Friday morning before the 7:24 first bell sounded just up the street.
“For someone this young to lose their life is a tragedy of unmeasurable proportion,” School Committee member Paul Cannistra said hours later, long after firefighters had removed the red tarp encircling the place behind the bus where Kimberly’s body had lain, and the intersection of Warwick Avenue and Pilgrim Parkway had resumed its hectic pace.
The accident happened around 7:05 a.m. Police Chief Stephen M. McCartney said the bus, carrying about 20 Pilgrim students, had been driving north on Warwick Avenue. It stopped at the intersection. On a green light, it turned left onto Pilgrim Parkway heading for the high school about a quarter-mile away.
Witnesses told the police Kimberly appeared to be looking at her cell phone and had her head down when she walked into the crosswalk as the bus was turning in, McCartney said. Earphones and an iPod were also found on her, he said in a statement; it wasn’t clear whether she had been listening to music.
Kimberly may also have been wearing the hood of a sweatshirt pulled up, said School Supt. Peter Horoschak.
Cellphone use has killed more people than swine flu! It’s time to panic and put an end to the cellphone pandemic.
Where was HE to rescue when this happened?!
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4183/mastabama.jpg
There is no joke here for decent people. I know if I was the bus driver it would haunt me the rest of my life. To loose a child is a parents ultimate fear. I don’t know the average age of the blog poster here, but for most of us you never really get over that slight sick feeling as your teen drives out the yard. You never want to outlive your child.
Kid vs. bus. Sad. Cell phone very minor part of story. Move on.
#9 Mr. Diesel Get a prius
G
#35, RTaylor,
I know if I was the bus driver it would haunt me the rest of my life.
Actually, we don’t get as many points if we sneak up on them before running them over. It is much more fun, and you get bonus points, if they freeze and you can hit them dead center of the bus. I like it when they throw their hands up with the fear etched on their face like the manufacturer’s emblem soon will be.
She wasn’t killed by a cell phone, she was killed by a bus.
I would love to see all cell phone use banned in public places such as restaurants, and while on public sidewalks. This and other cases like this prove it’s an issue of safety. It’s gotten completely out of hand, and I am so sick of hearing freaky ring tones everywhere, listening to loudmouths shout their conversations rudely not considering others right around them acting as if they are the only thing that matters, and watching zombies everywhere walk by me without a nod or hello as they are too busy being “social”.
#40. Cripes!
I know the exact intersection in question. I used to work at the bakery up the street in the Stop & Shop. All I can say is “Bye”, one less idiot out there. At least her lack of presence did not hurt anyone else…
Yes, another mobile phone addict bites the dust. Buggar
The point I think was that “cell phone use has killed more people than swine flu! It’s time to panic and put an end to the cellphone pandemic.”
What alarms me is how no one seems to see an even worse problem and connect the dots: that when you take someone who is so oblivious and preoccupied on a cell phone and put them behind the wheel of a moving vehicle that they almost always end up killing even more people other than just themselves! Did anyone ever find out if the bus driver was listening to music, texting or even just talking on his/her “device” when he/she ran over this girl?
#45, Anonymous,
Did anyone ever find out if the bus driver was listening to music, texting or even just talking on his/her “device” when he/she ran over this girl?
Excuse me, I thought it was her that hit the bus in an attempt to run the bus over.
Kim “appeared” to be looking down at a cellphone, she could have been looking at her watch, or hunched over from her backpack, or trying to keep her face out of wind and rain. The Superintendent of the School department was out of line when he made his comments. She didn’t step off the curb into the path of the bus. She had the green light to cross, she was already in the crosswalk, and had traversed at least half of the 2-lane street. If the bus driver had been looking at the cross walk, she would have seen Kim — the person in the car BEHIND the bus saw Kim, honked, but either there was just not enough time to react, or it couldn’t be heard through the commotion of the 4 lane road the bus was coming from. The bus didn’t hit her head on, but caught her with its side and pulled her under.
Kim was indeed a very intelligent young woman, had a brown belt in Karate, had an amazing sense of humour, was a great friend of many people, including my daughter. It was a horrific way for such a wonderful person to die.
how dare all of you people making false assmptions and claims what are you people three years old? she was a good friend of mine and i happened to be on the bus, she happened to be changing the song on her i-pod and it was an accident! it is called that for a reason! kim was smart, she was brilliant! don’t you dare say these things about her when you do not know her leave her be let her rest!
1. crosswalks have a purpose
2. children are called children for a reason
3. adults are held to a higher standard for a reason
4. have the traffic devices been tested for possible conflict? how can a bus driving north get a green left turn signal into a crosswalk where the pedestrian had a green walk signal
5. why are kids crossing and traveling along heavy traffic roads. kids and cars dont mix.
(school dept policy)
where were the crossing guards?
why is there a crosswalk that close to the main road.. why was not the crosswalk moved back 50 feet or so to get away from the process of a major road intersection.
(police dept) Is the crosswalk in compliance with federal safety standards?
crosswalks should NOT be used if they do not give pedestrians right of way. this leads to a false sense of security by pedestrians which actually INCREASES danger.
All of you blaming a child for being a child shame on you.
The school dept policys forcing kids walk to school, the police dept the safety dept the bus driver, all are more responsible for this young girls death. ignoring these causal factors is just going to kill another kid.
the crosswalk is so close to the intersection it should be considered PART of the intersection.. and something for any driver to consider and check clear prior to proceeding.
if the above is incorrect why the hell is there an crosswalk in the intersection? and what is the purpose of a crosswalk.. and what are the expectations of drivers prior to entering a crosswalk? what are rights of pedestrians IN a crosswalk.
last person i’d be blaming is a child. shame on you all
Yes, it was proved that the driver was not listening to music or using a phone. In fact Kimberly did walk in back of the bus and was rolled under the wheel in the rear of the bus. She was not run over by the front and was also not in the crosswalk but 8 feet out of it. This was a careless mistake by a 15 year old girl that unfortinately caused her to lose her life. Automatically the blame goes to the bus driver because of the nature of the tragety and that is unfair.