UPDATE: Cloquet student recovering from bike-bus collision

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UPDATE: A 10-year-old girl who reportedly rode her bicycle into the side of a school bus was “doing better” and recovering from a leg injury at Essentia Health on Wednesday, according to Assistant Police Chief Terry Hill.

The incident occurred at approximately 3 p.m. Tuesday, at which time Cloquet Police, along with the Cloquet Area Fire District, were called to an accident involving the child and a Cloquet Transit school bus.

Hill said the department was still finishing up reports from witnesses and going over the incident follow-up from the Minnesota State Patrol’s Commercial Vehicle Division on Wednesday.

He said the information at hand indicates that the accident occurred near the intersection of 10th Street and Doddridge Avenue in Cloquet. The child, a student from Washington Elementary School, was reportedly riding her bicycle westbound, either along the sidewalk parallel to Doddridge or across the lawn alongside the adjacent equipment shed.

As the school bus turned off Doddridge into the turnaround behind the school, the girl apparently couldn’t stop in time and made contact with the side of the bus.

The driver of the bus was initially unaware of the impact, said Hill, and it was the driver of the bus behind her who witnessed the incident and immediately reported it to 911.

The child was transported to Community Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries and ultimately transferred to Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth.

Since the incident is still under investigation at this time, school administrators declined to comment. Hill said there is no indication of any criminal behavior on behalf of the bus driver, and charges are unlikely.

“We’re treating it strictly as an accident at this point,” said Hill.

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