Richland school bus driver and district sued for ‘negligence’ after 11-year-old hit by truck

The family of a Chief Joseph Middle School student hit by a truck last year after she was dropped off at a bus stop is suing the Richland School District.

The suit claims the district and bus driver had a legal responsibility to ensure Trinity Enriquez, then 11, safely crossed the road. The pickup driver is also named in the suit.

Trinity was heading home on Oct. 22, when she stepped off the Route 301 bus near Spengler Street and Hood Avenue in Richland.

To get to her house, she needed to walk across Spengler. After the bus driver retracted her stop sign and began driving again, Trinity crossed behind the bus and was struck by a pickup heading in the opposite direction as the bus.

Of the 19 students who use that bus stop, she and seven others regularly crossed the street, according to the suit filed by Tamaki Law in Benton County Superior Court.

The suit claims under Washington state law that the driver and school district had a responsibility to “make every reasonable effort to ensure that they cross safely and that they pass in front of the school bus and never behind the school bus.”

“Our client is pursuing this case to bring awareness and prevent this risk to a child’s safety from happening to other children,” said attorney Megan Chang-Ngaruiya.

Trinity was the fifth Richland student to be hit by a car in the last three years.

Richland School District does not typically comment on pending lawsuits, said Ty Beaver, director of communications.

Trinity spent 45 days in the hospital and she missed several months of school because of her injuries.

A GoFundMe campaign at the time raised nearly $20,000 to help cover some of the hospital costs in Spokane.

Despite the severity of her injuries, her family expects her to make a full recovery. She’s also going back to school this year, though she is still undergoing treatment for a traumatic brain injury, said Chang-Ngaruiya.

The lawsuit is seeking the costs of past and future medical bills and other costs and penalties to be determined at the trial.

2 drivers

The lawsuit also names bus driver Jenny Garcia and pickup truck driver James Koester.

Chang-Ngaruiya said it’s not clear yet whether Garcia was trained on the proper rules for dropping students off.

Bus drivers under Washington law have a duty to make every reasonable effort to ensure their students can cross the road safely and that they’re within the view of the bus driver. There are no crosswalks in that area.

Garcia was unaware Trinity was hit and continued driving her route, according to a Herald story at the time. She still works at the school district, Beaver said this week.

And the lawsuit accuses Koester of violating Washington’s Rules of the Road.

Chang-Ngaruiya said he’s also to blame for Trinity’s condition because drivers must be aware of pedestrians, the road and traffic conditions.

“Indications are that the driver did not see the minor and that suggests negligence on the part of the driver for failing to see the child in the road before she was struck,” she said.