6-year-old Sikeston girl run over by bus dies

GOING TO SCHOOLBy Heidi Hall

and Scott Moyers ~ Southeast Missourian

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Counselors were due back to console grieving students at Lee Hunter Elementary School this morning, a day after one of their fellow students was killed after being hit by a school bus.

Kristen Leshae Harris, 6, was hit by the school bus at 7:58 a.m. Tuesday, police said, as the bus attempted to turn from Kiwanis Avenue onto Jackson Street. The bus was driven by Sheila Winkler, 36, a school district employee.

The Sikeston Department of Public Safety, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Scott County coroner's office all were to continue investigating the matter today. Police would not comment on the investigation, which they said may take up to 60 days.

Scott County deputy coroner Jerry Goin said that Harris had missed her bus and was running after it when the accident happened.

"She apparently was running behind the bus and the students yelled at the bus driver that she was back there," Goin said. "The driver apparently saw the girl running after the bus, made a turn, and didn't even know she'd hit anything until she walked to the back of the bus."

Winkler radioed for help, and the girl was taken to Missouri Delta Medical Center where she was pronounced dead at 9:33 a.m. Goin said Harris had been run over by the right rear wheels of the bus, and no autopsy was necessary.

About a dozen children were on the bus when Harris was hit, schools superintendent Steve Borgsmiller said. He said Winkler had a clean driving record with the district. She had renewed her commercial driver's license and went through annual training over the summer.

"It is a tragic, tragic accident," he said. "The whole situation is being reviewed, we'll just have to see how this plays out. I don't know what we're going to do in this situation."

Waiting on police

Borgsmiller said the district's handling of the accident will depend on what a police investigation reveals.

Police said that if any charges are to be brought against Winkler, they would come through the Scott County prosecutor's office. That office said it hadn't gotten any information on the accident late Tuesday afternoon.

A man who answered Winkler's phone said she had no comment.

Counselors from the district and Bootheel Counseling Services went to Lee Hunter, Southeast and Morehouse elementary schools Tuesday to speak with students individually and in classes and to counsel parents on helping their children cope.

Neighborhood children are divided among the three schools for racial balance, Borgsmiller said, and some on buses bound for other schools knew Harris or passed by the scene of the accident.

The neighborhood around Kiwanis and Jackson streets was somber Tuesday as a steady stream of cars drove slowly past the accident site, said Quida Harris, who is no relation but is a friend of the girl's mother, Leslie Harris.

"Kristen was a fun child who loved to play," she said. "You knew when she was in the room -- she was that kind of child. She was very, very high spirited, a loving child who will be greatly missed."

hhall@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 121

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137