Police: Teen driver arrested for passing stopped bus, nearly hitting girl in Houston

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The driver who investigators say sped around a stopped school bus has been arrested after nearly running over a 5-year-old girl two weeks ago.

The driver, 18-year-old Julio Coreas, was booked into the Harris County Jail charged with reckless driving. It was caught on video as the car narrowly misses a beautiful little girl.

"No. Wait. Wait. Wait. Stop," Melina’s mom yelled on the video, which shows the 5-year-old returning home from her first day of riding the school bus. It nearly became the last day of her life. 

“My daughter could have been dead if she had taken one more step,” says Josephine Kirk-Taylor.

Detectives say the 18-year-old driver appears very sorry for what he did. 

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”His demeanor is cooperative and I think he's probably remorseful,” explains HPD Traffic Enforcement Commander Kenneth Campbell.

“Our hope today is that people will listen to this message and make better decisions,” adds Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. 

Chief Acevedo actually saw the video Melina's mom posted and launched an investigation after Kirk-Taylor was initially told there would not be one. HPD is reviewing why an officer told her that.

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