London boy hit by vehicle after getting off school bus dies: Family

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A young London boy who was hit by a vehicle after he exited a school bus and died from his injuries was a “kind-hearted soul,” his grandmother says.

Dante Caranci, 7, was struck by a vehicle while getting off the school bus in front of his home on Longwoods Road, east of Murray Road, on Monday afternoon, the organizer of a gofundme account for his family said.

“Everybody loved Dante,” his grandmother Judy Madzia said Wednesday.

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“It’s devastating for everybody. It’s hard to function,” she said. “Who wouldn’t be devastated after losing their seven-year-old? They haven’t lived their life yet.”

Dante was coming home from his school in Delaware when he was hit, Madzia said.

Dante’s older brother, who is nine, is “coping, but he’s a kid and it’s hard,” she said.

Madzia said the family appreciates the gofundme that was launched Wednesday to help pay for funeral costs and had raised more than $56,000 as of 7 p.m.

London police haven’t released many details of the crash that occurred just before 4 p.m. on Monday.

Police said emergency crews responded to a serious crash involving a pedestrian in which a young child suffered life-threatening injuries.

All “involved parties” remained at the scene, police said Monday night, and appealed for anyone who had information, including dash-cam footage or video surveillance on Longwoods Road near Murray Road between 3:45 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. to contact them.

Police provided a brief update Tuesday on the investigation and repeated the appeal for dash-cam or video surveillance.

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Mike Heggarty, who lives in the area of where the crash happened, said he arrived at his home shortly after 4 p.m. Monday to a chaotic scene, with several police vehicles and ambulances there.

“I was just getting home, and I saw cars stopped on the highway and making U turns, and that’s usually a bad sign,” he said.

“I then walked down to the end of the driveway and that’s when I saw the school and a transport truck behind it.”

Heggarty said the school bus, which suggests the boy was on his way home from school, was parked heading east, into Lambeth, and that the boy and his family lived on the opposite side of the street, meaning he needed to cross the busy road to get to his home.

Police stayed in the area until after 9 p.m. and even used a drone as they canvassed the scene, Heggarty said. Longwoods Road between Colonel Talbot and Kilbourne roads was closed during the investigation.

Heggarty, who admitted being shaken up by the death of the young boy, said traffic issues and crashes have increased on Longwoods Road in the past few years as the population in nearby communities such as Delaware and Mt. Brydges has grown. Traffic volume issues have only been made worse this year by the closing of Colonel Talbot because of construction.

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“I’ve lived here for 40 years, and this road is dangerous now,” he said. “There’s a lot more traffic that comes down here.”

Coun. Anna Hopkins, whose ward includes the site of the collision, said she’s aware of the traffic concerns in the area and has on multiple occasions referred the issue to police.

But drivers’ behaviours only compound the problem, she said.

“I think in all areas of the city we see a lot of speeding and cut-through traffic, but when you get into those rural areas it becomes a little bit more,” Hopkins said.

“And when you have congestion and frustration, it’s really important that we try to adhere to the speed limits, be careful and slow down, but it just seems we’re going the opposite way.”

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