A crook in a stolen SUV turned a trip home into a ride of horror for disabled schoolchildren in Queens yesterday when he smashed into their bus, flipping it over, while fleeing police, authorities said.
Good Samaritans rushed to the rescue and helped cops pull the bleeding and crying children from the bus, which was rammed at nearly 70 mph on Douglaston Parkway.
“That thing just blasted that bus,” said UPS driver Peter Aruta, 40. “I saw the bus on its side and I ran over,” said another witness John Anatra, 50. “The cop in front of me opened the door, and there was already a cop inside. He was handing kids out.
“They were all bleeding from their head, face and arms. But nothing very bad, they all walked, they all sat down; they were all conscious.”
Eight kids were taken to Long Island Jewish Hospital.
Aruta was also among those who helped rescue the children.
“I pulled the windshield down; I was about to step into the bus, but then the matron said, ‘Help her! Help her!’ and pointed at a little girl stuck in the bus.”
The short-length yellow bus was transporting disabled students from the private Lowell School at 203-05 32nd Ave. when it was rammed from behind by a stolen silver Nissan Murano while heading south on Douglaston Parkway.
The SUV, which belonged to an off-duty police officer, was stolen from in front of her home by Thomas Hernandez, 43, of Brooklyn, cops said.
The officer came home to find the vehicle missing.
Police on patrol spotted the pilfered vehicle at about 2:31 p.m. and gave chase.
“The [SUV] came flying past me. The police were in pursuit,” said Aruta, 40. “The police were seven-car lengths behind, they were flying; they had to be going 70 mph.”
The Murano knocked the bus to the left on impact. The bus clipped a tree, rolled over and crushed a street sign as the kids tumbled inside.
Hernandez then hopped from the SUV, left the bleeding children behind, and made a run for it, cops said.
Witness Devin Ozen, 19, sent the cops in the right direction, and the thief was soon collared. But he allegedly put up a struggle before he was arrested, and left one of the officers injured. The officer was taken to North Shore Hospital.
Hernandez was hit with a slew of charges including burglary, grand larceny, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest.
Additional reporting by Philip Messing