A child died after he was hit and pinned by the same bus he threw stones at along EDSA in Quezon City Thursday morning.
Citing information from witnesses, the Inter-Agency Council for Traffic or IACT said the incident happened around 8:30 a.m. along EDSA Carousel between the MRT Santolan and Ortigas stations after the victim "suddenly threw stone" at a Metro Link bus, damaging its left window and windshield.
The victim was about to escape by crossing the carousel when he failed to avoid the oncoming bus, the agency added.
The bus driver managed to pull over after the incident and call for help, but authorities found the victim already dead on the spot, IACT said.
No other victims were reported during the incident. The bus driver is currently cooperating with authorities on the investigation, IACT added.
A video of the incident showing the victim under the bus was posted on IACT's Facebook page.
In the comments section, many social media users sympathized with the bus driver by saying the incident was not his fault.
"Kawawa naman si mamang driver. Siya pa rin ang mananagot. Dapat 'yung magulang na lang ng bata ang kasuhan, bakit nila pinapabayaan ang anak nila na gumawa ng 'di magandang gawain (I feel sorry for the driver as he has to take responsibility for what happened. It should be the parents of the victim who should be charged. Why are they letting their child do bad things?)," Shelly Ann Melegrito Bautista said.
"'Yung nagtatrabaho nang maayos para lang may maiuwi sa pamilya, siya pa yung makukulong kung sakali? Papanagutin yung magulang, hindi yung driver (He's only working to take something home, yet he will be the one to go to jail? Charge the parents, not the driver)," added Florian Viernes, who also noted that "if that's the kind of law we have, then those law abiding citizens will suffer."
Several social media users also asked why Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) personnel were not around when they were supposed to implement the law prohibiting children from loitering.
"Naabutan ko po 'to kanina. Paano mga MMDA personnel, nakikita din nila 'yang mga 'yan, humaharang pa nga sa EDSA. Pero di naman nila agad tinatawagan ng responde (I saw this earlier. This wouldn't happen if MMDA personnel would prohibit them from loitering on EDSA. They would not call for other responders to take charge of them)," Ners Pascua said.