Man Accused of Striking 2 Students Exiting School Bus

WEST BREMERTON, Wash. — A motorist allegedly struck two students as they were getting off their school bus on Monday and faces several charges, including DUI.

At approximately 3:20 p.m., two students deboarded their school bus and were walking home when they were struck by a vehicle as they were crossing the street, according to a news release from the Bremerton Police Department.

The motorist, Randy Allen Payne, according to the Kitsap Sun, did not stop to check on the students. He drove to his house a short distance away. He was arrested there and booked into jail for vehicle assault, DUI, hit and run, and driving on a suspended or revoked license third degree.

Payne is suspected of being under the influence of, or suffering withdrawal from, narcotics, the Kitsap Sun reports. He told a police officer that he takes prescription opioids for pain but that he did not take them on Monday. However, charging documents state that he did admit to being addicted to heroin and that he said that he had used the drug the day before, according to the newspaper.

Payne told a police officer that he was looking for his son when he drove his SUV by the girls and noticed that he hit something, the Kitsap Sun reports. Charging documents state that the officer had found him on his front porch, wrapped in a blanket, shivering, and rocking back and forth, and saying that he “didn’t mean to do that. I can’t stop seeing that. I don’t want to be in trouble.”

The girls, ages 13 and 14, are hospitalized and are being treated for serious injuries. Hospital staff members told a police officer that one of the girls suffered a broken bone at the base of the spine and a broken pelvis, and that she could be at risk for paralysis, according to the newspaper.