School Bus Kills Boy Who Stopped to Tie Shoelaces

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — A high school student who had just stepped off a school bus was run over and killed by the vehicle Wednesday after he bent down to tie his shoelaces, authorities said.

Brian Burdett, 15, had gotten off the bus with three other students when he stopped to tie his shoelaces as the bus pulled away from a regular stop in this desert town about 140 miles east of Los Angeles.

“It’s unknown if he was in front of the bus or behind the bus. We’re getting conflicting reports,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Elaine Bernal.

When the driver stopped, she found the boy lying on the ground, not breathing and with no pulse.

Burdett, who was a freshman at Twentynine Palms High School, was pronounced dead about 90 minutes later at a hospital on the Marine base in Twentynine Palms.

Bernal said the accident is under investigation.