A 19-year-old student who was fatally struck by a school bus Wednesday morning in Brampton is being described as a “ray of sunshine.”
Friends identified her as Nathalie Schmidt.
She was found unconscious at the intersection of Williams Parkway and Highway 410 around 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday and transported to a Toronto trauma centre. Schmidt was later pronounced dead.
Friends told CTV News Toronto that Schmidt was a sweet, talented, and soft-spoken woman who had a passion for painting. Schmidt was a student at OCAD University in Toronto, they said.
Police initially called the incident a hit-and-run accident, but later said that they had located the driver, who was cooperating with police.
“We operate in facts and the facts available to officers and investigators at the time was that it was a fail to remain,” Peel Regional Police Const. Akhil Mooken said on Thursday.
The vehicle involved in the collision was described as a short yellow school bus with no passengers.
“The school bus driver stopped at the scene, spoke with one of the initial responding officers at the location, but did not make it clear what their involvement in the collision was. They didn’t say if they had hit anybody or anything like that,” Mooken said.
No charges have been laid yet in connection with the incident.
“I can’t speak for the actions of the driver,” Mooken said. “I can’t tell you what was going through the mind of the driver. Again, that is something the investigators of the major collisions to determine.”
Investigators said the school bus has been transferred to the centre for forensic sciences for inspection. The investigation is ongoing.
