An 8-year-old boy was struck by a school bus around 3:30 p.m. Thursday on Second Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries in a crash that briefly shut down part of the road in front of a West Side storefront. The child was conscious and alert as he was taken to an area hospital, and police say the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
According to NBC Boston, the other children riding the bus were transferred to a second bus so they could continue on to their drop-off locations after the crash. The bus was carrying approximately 12 students from Parker-Varney School, a West Side elementary school serving pre-K through fourth grade, according to Manchester Ink Link. The crash happened near West Hancock Street, directly in front of Family Outfitters, and emergency responders found one of the child's shoes pinned beneath the bus's front driver's side tire, per InDepthNH.org.
How the Crash Unfolded
Per the same InDepthNH.org account, the child was in front of the bus while it was stopped in traffic when the vehicle allegedly rolled forward at low speed. The outlet reports that emergency personnel issued a precautionary trauma alert at Elliot Hospital ahead of the boy's arrival, a standard step that prepares hospital emergency teams before a patient reaches the facility. Second Street was temporarily closed at West Hancock Street so crews could conduct an initial investigation at the scene.
Key details remain unresolved, including what exactly caused the bus to move and whether mechanical or visibility factors played a role. Police have not yet released findings on the cause. Anyone with information about the crash has been asked to call the Manchester police department at 603-668-8711.
Who Operates the Bus Route
Manchester School District transportation records indicate that bus routes for Parker-Varney Elementary School, located at 223 James A. Pollock Drive, are operated by Student Transportation of America, one of two primary contractors the district uses alongside the Manchester Transit Authority. The district's transportation setup has faced other operational strains recently: the Manchester Board of School Committee approved a two-year, $979,000 annual contract with First Student this past June to house and maintain district school buses in Candia, New Hampshire, after municipal storage options inside Manchester were exhausted, according to Manchester Ink Link's report at the time.
State law sets strict boundaries for how close a bus can be to students. Under New Hampshire RSA 265:57, school bus drivers are required to stop the bus at least 10 feet from students or in a position that lets students cross at least 10 feet in front of the bus, with violations carrying a mandatory $250 fine. Separately, New Hampshire Administrative Code Saf-C 1305.03 requires every school bus driver in the state to complete at least eight hours of annual in-service training covering defensive driving, pupil safety, and special needs transportation, with bus contractors required to certify completed driver rosters annually with state motor vehicle officials.
Not the First Such Incident in Manchester
Thursday's crash echoes an earlier case: in November 2024, another child pedestrian was struck by a school bus in Manchester at the intersection of Silver Street and Beech Street, according to a report from Queen City Alerts and News, with that child evaluated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Statewide, New Hampshire recorded 14 pedestrian fatalities in 2025, including 13 adults and one child, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's FY25 Annual Report — missing the state's target of keeping pedestrian fatalities at or below 10.8. Nationally, NHTSA data from 2023 showed that 17 percent of all children aged 14 and younger killed in U.S. traffic crashes were pedestrians.
Manchester has seen other high-profile pedestrian crashes involving young children in recent memory, including a case covered by Hoodline in which a driver got 20 to 40 years for a crash that killed an infant. For now, investigators in Thursday's case have not released further details on what caused the bus to move while stopped, and the child's current condition beyond his transport to the hospital has not been publicly updated.
