His brother, Josue Molina (above), mom, Maribel Molina, and stepdad Santos Herrera yesterday talk of the tragedy. (James Messerschmidt)
(
)
Brothers Josue Molina and David Granados had just finished their homework and were getting ready for bed when the unimaginable happened.
“I was in bed last night and my brother was walking around,” said Josue, 7, of Hempstead, LI. “He was getting ready to put his pajamas on. The bus crashed through the wall and I’m pretty sure my brother was under it.
“He was so nice to me. I didn’t want him to die. I want him to stay here with me. He’s in the sky now watching me.”
Officials said David, 6, was killed Tuesday night when a Nassau County bus jumped a curb and plowed into the family’s home.
Cops said the driver, aboard a 12-ton bus carrying about 20 passengers, lost control along Fulton Avenue when he swerved trying to avoid hitting a jaywalker, then barreled into the house.
“When the bus crashed through the house, I couldn’t find my brother,” Josue said. “I dug and dug through all the rocks but I couldn’t find him.”
Their stepfather, Santos Herrera, 41, was digging, too. Herrera said he was in the kitchen when he heard what sounded like a bomb.
“It was like an explosion,” Herrera said. “I ran to check on my kids, and I couldn’t see them. All the doorways were blocked. We couldn’t get out of the house. We were trapped.
“I needed to get out somehow, so I found a sledgehammer to break the window. I heard my Josue yelling, ‘Daddy, Daddy.’ I called out to him and I pulled my son out of the window and outside.
“My other son was trapped on the floor by the bus. I could tell right away that he had died.”
Although the driver swerved at the intersection, he still hit the pedestrian, Manuel Lopez-Rivera, 35, who was walking home from a Laundromat.
Lopez-Rivera was rushed to Nassau University Medical Center with broken bones. Little David died at Winthrop-University Hospital.
A Nassau police spokesman, Inspector Kenneth Lack, said no criminal charges would be filed against the driver or the pedestrian, adding that the driver wasn’t intoxicated or speeding.
David’s mother, Maribel Molina, said her son “would draw and make pictures for me. That’s what made me happy.”
Although police officials said they would not pursue charges, Herrera said he was not ready to absolve the driver or the pedestrian.
“I feel like the bus driver and the jaywalker were wrong,” he said.
“The house is next to a dangerous street. Lots of drivers go very fast.”