TERREBONNE PARISH, La. — The Bayou community is shocked and saddened by the death of a 7-year-old Montegut Elementary School student.
“Terrible, hard to take, we were hoping he was going to make it,” Montegut neighbor Kevin Major said. “Obviously, that didn’t happen.”
Terrebonne Parish School Superintendent Bubba Orgeron confirmed that third-grader Jeremiah Falgout was struck and killed by a school bus.
“This is just an unfortunate accident,” Orgeron said. “It’s indescribable. There are no words to describe how we feel.”
The accident happened Thursday afternoon shortly after the boy got off the bus.
The bus stop is at the end of Harrison Ellender’s driveway on LA-665, across the street from Falgout’s home.
“I was in my wheelchair and people were gathered around the child,” Ellender said. “They were doing CPR. They just worked on him until the helicopter showed up. They got him on the stretcher and got him on the helicopter.”
According to neighbors Falgout may have checked his mailbox immediately after getting off the school bus.
They say when he went to cross the highway to get to his house, that’s when the bus hit him.
“Everybody went over there, we found out with the screaming, of course, it was a kid,” Major said. “We thought it may be the same kid that checks the mailbox. We never saw a bus. It had already left I guess.”
The bus eventually stopped down the road.
Friday, Supt. Orgeron and a team of grief counselors met with Falgout’s classmates and teachers.
“We just extend our deepest sympathies to the family and we’re here for them,” Orgeron said. “We want them to know that we’re here and anything we can do.”
There were other children on the bus at the time of the accident.
According to the state police, the driver voluntarily submitted to a breath test, which showed no alcohol detected. They were also immediately placed on leave.
The state police is the lead agency investigating the accident.
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