Teenager with special needs struck by MBTA bus in Boston

A pedestrian is expected to survive after he was hit by an MBTA bus Monday evening in Boston.

The crash happened on Washington Street near where Roslindale and Jamaica Plain meet. Witnesses identified the victim as a 19-year-old male with special needs.

"We just heard the bang, and when we looked, he was just flying in the air," said Jose Calderon, who knows the victim.

Calderon ran into the street to tend to him until paramedics arrived.

"We tried to turn him around, but we saw all the blood," said Calderon. "We didn't want to move him in case he got injured or anything like that."

Calderon said the teen was conscious and alert, and he had just been inside the Emporium Gas Station and Car Wash before trying to cross busy Washington Street to head home.

"It is dangerous," said Calderon. "If you don't look both ways before you cross, you're going to get hit, 100%."

With the Forest Hills MBTA station less than half a mile away, many buses from several routes travel the stretch of Washington Street.

Calderon said he told police and the bus driver involved in the crash that he was going too fast.

MBTA Transit Police, however, said the bus driver was traveling within the speed limit when the crash occurred around 5:30 p.m. Monday.

They said the driver of an MBTA Route 30 bus was heading southwest on Washington Street in Roslindale, and as the bus approached the area of 3875 Washington St., the 19-year-old, who had been leaning against a light pole, "inexplicably ran into the street and in the path of the approaching bus."

The area was not a designated crosswalk, transit police said.

The bus driver tried to avoid the man but was unable to do so, transit police said. The bus struck the pedestrian, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.