6-year-old girl hit by truck and killed after she was dropped off by school bus in NW Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A Houston family is mourning the loss of their little girl after she was struck and killed shortly after getting off a school bus in northwest Houston.

It happened just before 5 p.m. Wednesday in the 9600 block of West Montgomery Road in the Acres Homes area.

The mother and father of the child have identified her as KaLiyah Harris, a first grader at Anderson Academy in Aldine ISD.

Harris was walking home after the school bus dropped her off at the Garden City Apartment Complex.

According to police, the child was crossing the street, not in a crosswalk, when a black Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck hit her.

Her mother, who was on her way to pick up KaLiyah, says when she turned the corner, her daughter was under the truck.

“She’s under the truck, the truck ran her side over,” said the mother, Whitney Clark. “She tried to walk, and she fell. I picked her up.”

Clark describes her daughter’s heartbreaking last moments.

“I grabbed her hand, she started squeezing my hand,” the mom said. “She let go of my hand.”

KaLiyah died at the hospital.

In a statement from Aldine ISD the district says the school bus dropped KaLiyah off at her stop in the neighborhood at 4:44pm.

But, according to her mother and law enforcement officials, the bus came earlier than expected sometime before that. In fact, the mother says the drop-off inconsistencies are a daily occurrence and says parents some times have to wait up to one hour and 30 minutes on the bus.

The driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with investigators, according to Houston police. Officials evaluated the truck driver and determined he was not impaired at the time of the crash.

The family, who is in need of help, has created a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses.

HPD is leading the investigation, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office is assisting.

“When you imagine what this family is going through right now, losing a baby just coming home from school, it’s not supposed to happen,” Sean Teare with the Harris County DA’s Office said. “We all know that, and we’re going to work as hard as we can to find out exactly what happened. If there are any criminal charges that are to be had, we’re going to pursue those.”

HPD has offered its sincere condolences to the family, and says the driver is most likely experiencing grief as well, knowing he unintentionally killed a child.

Investigators said they planned to review the driver’s phone records to determine whether a cell phone was in use at the time of the crash.