A heartbreaking incident that claimed the life of an innocent 15-year old teenager has left Antonina's family grieving for the sudden and unfair loss. Police arrested the bus driver at Neptune Avenue and West Sixth Street, about a half-mile from his home. However, it is still unclear whether the driver was aware that he had struck someone.
Heartbreaking Video Shows NYC School Bus Fatally Striking 15-Year Old Teenager
By
Samantha in
Heartbreaking
On 22nd January 2022
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A disturbing video was captured the moment a 15-year old teenager was literally mowed down by a school bus in Brooklyn this week.
The few seconds video clip shows the yellow school bus taking a turn around the corner at Bedford Avenue and Avenue P in Sheepshead Bay on Monday morning — just as the teenager identified as Antonina Zatulovska was crossing the street.
The driver, identified as Aleksandr Patlakh, 55, brutally hit Antonina and keeps driving — with a rear wheel of the bus rolling over the teen, the footage shows.
James Messerschmidt for NY Post
Police officials responded just after 8 a.m., and Zatulovska, a Coney Island resident and student at James Madison High School, was pronounced dead on scene. The high school is located at that intersection, although it was closed at the time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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Only a few hours later, Patlakh, also of Coney Island, was arrested at Neptune Avenue and West Sixth Street, about a half-mile from his home.
Police charged him with failure to stop for a pedestrian and failure to use due care and released him on a desk appearance ticket. It remained unclear Tuesday whether Patlakh was aware that he had struck someone.
James Messerschmidt for NY Post
The grieving father of Antonina, Boris Zatulovksa, 63, described his daughter as “a beautiful girl, innocent, crossing a crosswalk.”
She has two half-brothers in their 30s from her father’s previous marriage, he said.
“Everybody’s crying right now,” he said. “Everybody knew her spark, her smile.
“My wife is doing pretty bad. Everybody’s suffering right now. You couldn’t believe it.”
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Dad says that as an Uber driver, he knows the area well and “can’t imagine that people drive like this in New York."
“People can’t drive like this in the city, a school area, making this turn,” he said. “He killed my daughter in one second. … Everybody knows you have to slow [down] by a school. You can’t make people have to jump out of the way.”
James Messerschmidt for NY Post
Boris also showed his satisfaction with the manner the investigation is conducted and described it as “very good, very supportive."
“They’ve giving me any information, any possible support,” the teen’s dad said. “They’re great guys.”
The bereaved family is planning a Jewish funeral for Antonina.
James Messerschmidt for NY Post