Bucks man arrested for killing girl at bus stop

An 18-year-old man was arrested Friday after, police said, he drove past a school bus stop sign in Bucks County one morning last month and struck and killed a high school student walking to the bus.

Michael Shelly of Bensalem has been charged with homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, four counts of recklessly endangering another person, overtaking a school bus, and related charges.

Minete Zeka, 16, was hit while crossing Bensalem Boulevard around 6:40 a.m. Dec. 17. She was struck by a 1984 Ford Bronco II traveling west as she attempted to reach her Bensalem Township School District bus on the other side of the road.

In addition to being a tragedy for everyone involved, the incident highlights the fact that a combination of awareness and more consistent enforcement of laws against passing school buses is needed, said Charlie Hood, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services.

"Motorists need to be made aware that not only is there a potential for a citation, but more importantly, it's a real hazard to kids," Hood said.

The accident happened at Bensalem Boulevard and Bridgewater Road. The bus had its stop sign extended and red signals on, police said.

Zeka, a high school sophomore, was treated at the scene and taken to the Aria Hospital Torresdale campus, where she was pronounced dead.

Four students walking behind Zeka to the bus were not hurt, police said.

Shelly, who has no prior record, stayed at the scene of the accident, police said. He turned himself in to police Friday morning.

"Two lives are ruined here," said Fred Harran, Bensalem's director of public safety.

Shelly is a senior at Bucks County Technical High School, police said. He also works as an automotive mechanic, his lawyer said.

Harran said it does not appear that alcohol or drugs were factors in the accident. He said Shelly "was obviously not paying attention," but he declined to detail any role that distracted driving may have played.

"He feels terrible about the accident," lawyer Stanton M. Lacks said. "He's basically a good kid. This is a terrible tragedy. He extends his condolences, obviously, to the family."

Shelly was unable to post $50,000 for bail and is being held at the Bucks County jail.

"We're hoping to get bail lowered to a reasonable amount," Lacks said.

Shelly hopes to finish school by June so he can graduate, Lacks said.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13.

A 2014 national survey of nearly 100,000 drivers found 88,025 reports of seeing vehicles illegally pass school buses on a single day, according to the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services.

Some drivers are distracted, and some are in a hurry and think they can get away with passing a school bus, Hood said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Department of Transportation do not have data on the number of accidents caused by drivers running school bus stop signs, representatives said.

However, about 36 school-age pedestrians have been killed by other vehicles in school-transportation-related crashes from 2003 to 2012, according to a 2014 report from the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.