EDINA, Minn. — Editor's note: The video above originally aired March 16, 2021.
A young man is charged with riding a motorcycle through a deployed school bus stop arm and hitting a student as he crossed the road the road in Edina.
Prosecutors say 18-year-old Terrence Mather-Lymon of Minneapolis was riding a motorcycle for the first time on April 11 when he passed a number of stopped vehicles and the bus, with stop arm extended and lights flashing, before hitting the 10-year-old in a marked crosswalk.
Mather-Lymon is charged with criminal vehicular operation.
A criminal complaint details how Edina police squads were dispatched to the intersection of 55th Street West and Xerxes Ave. South just before 2:45 p.m. on reports of a child injured in a collision. Officers arrived on scene to find a crowd gathered around the boy, who was laying in the street. Nearby was a school bus with its stop arm fully extended.
Witnesses on the scene told police they saw the victim get off the bus and enter a marked crosswalk before the motorcycle, traveling at a high rate of speed, struck the boy. They said the motorcycle rider was initially stopped behind southbound traffic but then maneuvered into the northbound lanes, passing a number of stopped vehicles and bus before hitting the boy.
Those on the scene described the 10-year-old as flying through the air and landing on the pavement. He was taken to a hospital with head abrasions and a badly broken leg that would require surgery.
The driver of the motorcycle, eventually identified as Mather-Lymon, was still on scene and approached officers to speak with them. He told them it was the first time he had ever ridden a motorcycle and did not have a license. The defendant claimed he saw the bus driver stick his arm out the window, and interpreted that as the driver waving him through. Mather-Lymon also reportedly told investigators he was only going 15 to 20 miles per hour.
When the school bus driver was questioned, he explained that his stop arm and all accompanying lights were activated at the time of the incident and that he didn't see the motorcycle until it was passing the bus. After the collision he believed the child was either dead or dying due to the violent nature of the crash.
Investigators then obtained surveillance video from the bus that reportedly shows the victim and another boy running across the crosswalk before the motorcycle hits him.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist: