SAN ANTONIO – A 9-year-old boy jumped from the back of a moving San Antonio ISD school bus Wednesday afternoon on the East Side.
The special needs child was reportedly dared to jump by fellow students. Officers working the incident said it was not the first time the child had done something like this.
San Antonio police, fire and paramedics units rushed to the 4500 block of East Houston Street to treat the child, who landed on his head.
"(He) suffered some injuries, minor injuries, thank God. EMS has him now, and they're transporting him to University Hospital," San Antonio police Sgt. Keith Kurtz said.
Kurtz said the bus was not going very fast when the boy opened the rear emergency exit door and jumped.
Officers at the scene said the child is a special needs student and is typically strapped into a bus seat with a restraint.
"They have a system that is supposed to keep him strapped to the seat, but he's figured out how to get out of it, and he's getting pretty good at it, apparently, because he's done this more than once," Kurtz said.
Police investigating the accident said the child has removed the straps in the past and has jumped from the bus two or three times, but never when the bus was moving.
"It surprises me that he's done it before, and this is the first time he's actually been injured," Kurtz said.
According to Kurtz, after getting free from the restraints, the boy was dared by other students to jump.
SAISD spokeswoman Leslie Price couldn't confirm that detail or provide any specifics about the restraint system used on the bus.
Price said there was a bus monitor on board, but everything happened so fast, the monitor didn't have time to stop the child from jumping.
Kurtz said the San Antonio Police Department will hand the case over to SAISD police for further investigation.
"The school district's going to have to work with the child and the family to try to figure out a way that this doesn't happen again," Kurtz said.
The school district is still gathering facts about what happened on the bus, but Price provided the following statement about the incident:
"We are looking into an incident that occurred this afternoon where a child jumped out the back of a bus. Fortunately, the bus was moving slowly at the time. We will be evaluating the details of the incident, working to determine what other measures can be put in place to ensure students' safety."
KSAT 12 News will follow up with the district Thursday to see what they plan to do.