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Video Of Teen Hurt In Bus Incident Raises Questions

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – Newly released surveillance video from inside a Broward County transit bus shows an accident last week in which a teenage boy tried to get on, fell and was run over.

The video also raised questions about whether the accident could have been prevented.

It happened last Friday around 9 a.m. in 1200 block of East Sample Road in Pompano Beach as Jerry Cunningham, 14, scrambled to catch the bus.

A camera inside the bus captured bus driver Reinaldo Soto, two women paying and just outside the bus, Cunningham is trying to get in. Witnesses said the boy's arm got stuck in the door.

Several of the people on the bus tried to alert Soto, but after just a few seconds of running to keep up with the bus, Cunningham fell to the ground.

People onboard the bus started screaming. Soto stopped the bus, ran off too check on Cunningham then quickly got back inside to call for help.

Brian Clark was one of the passengers.

"I saw the kid's hand," he told CBS 4 News on Friday. "The kid was trying to get on the bus, everybody on the bus was screaming stop."

Surveillance video from a nearby business showed Cunningham's mother throwing off her shoes and frantically racing to her son.

Clark said Cunningham's injuries looked severe.

"911 was asking questions," he said. "(I'm saying) there's blood coming out of his ears, his mouth, his nose."

Cunningham was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with his parents by his side.

The surveillance camera from the bus has raised some questions. Did Soto drive off before the doors were completely shut? Was he able to see Cunningham or was his view blocked because of two women who were paying?

Soto is on administrative leave while the accident is investigated. His personnel file shows Soto has had three preventable accidents in a county bus since 2004. He's been a county bus driver since 2002.

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