Hundreds of mourners gathered on Saturday to say goodbye to a teenage girl who was fatally struck by a TTC bus last month.
Family, friends and strangers paid their respects to 14-year-old Amaria Diljohn at the Malvern Christian Assembly church in Scarborough.
Leslie-Ann Smith said it was a beautiful celebration of Diljohn’s life.
“They had a steelpan [drum] playing, really speaking to her culture, and her teachers were there, really speaking to the type of young woman she was,” Smith said.
Others remembered Dilijohn as “kind” and “loving.”
Her grandparents told the crowd about how Diljohn would try to get out of chores as a child by pretending to be a queen.
Diljohn, a grade 9 student, had been attempting to cross Neilson Road from east to west when she was hit by the 133 Neilson bus, which did not remain at the scene, according to Toronto police.
A 27-year-old driver was later questioned by police but not charged.
But a police investigation into Diljohn’s death continues.
After reviewing security camera footage, police said they were looking for six potential witnesses. Police said the witnesses would have been on the bus between 5:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. the evening Diljohn was killed.
In the days after Diljohn’s death, TTC chair Andy Byford said he would speed up a review of driver training.
