A transit driver in Quebec is accused of killing two children and injuring six by crashing a city bus into a daycare on Wednesday morning.
CTV News reported that driver Pierre Ny St-Amand was arrested after witnesses and parents said he accelerated through the Garderie Educative Sainte-Rose parking lot and crashed head-on into the daycare, exited the vehicle screaming, and removed all of his clothes.
Six other children injured in the crash were hospitalized and are expected to survive, according to CBC News.
A witness said he physically struck St-Amand to get him under control.
“He was just yelling, there were no words coming out of his mouth,” Hamdi Benchaabane told CTV News.
Benchaabane said he rescued one child from the daycare before firefighters told him to leave due to concerns about the unstable roof.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault responded to the event during a news conference, saying his thoughts are with the children and their families.
“As a father, I am shaken,” he said.
Public Safety Minister Francois Bonnardel wrote online that emergency services have secured a perimeter around the daycare. He says officials know little about the crash, but that it’s tragic.
“Our hearts go out to the families concerned.”
Bonnardel said he would visit the location with the minister of families, Suzanne Roy.
According to Noovo Info, St-Amand faces charges of homicide and reckless driving.
