The mom of an 11-year-old girl fatally struck and dragged by a school bus driver in Brooklyn hopes to lay her to rest in her native Uzbekistan, according to a community organizer raising funds for the grief-stricken family.
Amira Aminova had just bought some chocolate at a deli and was trying to cross Bath and 23rd Aves. in Bath Beach about 3 p.m. on Thursday when the driver of the yellow bus hit her and kept going.
“Amira and her mother, Zilola, came to the United States several years ago from Uzbekistan in search of a better life,” a GoFundMe page aiming to help the mother cover funeral costs reads in Russian. “Zilola is a single mother who raised her daughter alone and dedicated her entire life to her. Amira was everything to her – the meaning of her life, her joy, and the most precious person in the world.”
Police tracked down and stopped bus driver Wawa Aurelus a short distance away, charging him with failure to yield and failure to exercise due care.
Amira lived just down the block from where she was struck.
The GoFundMe effort organized by Saykhuna Artikova of Brooklyn has quickly raised more than $29,000 for funeral expenses, including getting Amira’s body back to Uzbekistan.
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News
The NYPD Highway Patrol investigates on Thursday after Amira Aminova, 11, was fatally struck by a school bus on Bath Ave. in Brooklyn. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
“Today, Zilola is going through the worst thing a mother can experience – the loss of her only child, far from her homeland, far from her loved ones, with a pain that cannot be expressed in words,” the GoFundMe page says. “Nothing can heal this wound. Nothing can replace Amira’s smile, her laughter, her life.”
Video obtained by the Daily News shows the girl crossing Bath Ave. at a crosswalk with a green light and a blinking red countdown on the crossing signal. She starts running when she notices the turning yellow school bus. As the bus veers into her path, she tries to get out of the way, but the bus strikes her and drags her down the street.
Obtained by Daily News
Screengrab from a video shows the girl as she was crossing at Bath Ave. and 23rd Ave. as the bus approaches. (Obtained by Daily News)
Aurelus, 62, received a desk appearance ticket and is expected to answer the charges against him in court in a few weeks. It was not clear if Aurelus knew he had hit someone as he made the turn. He lives in East Flatbush, according to cops.
Amira bought chocolate and soda every day at the Bath Healthy Deli and Grill, said Wael Alghithi, a worker there.
“Maybe she thought he was going to stop for her,” Alghithi told The News. “When he hit her, he kept moving like he didn’t see her. She was under the school bus, being dragged, and he kept moving. She was still holding the chocolate in her hand. … It was bad, Man. Bad.”
