Teen hit by METRO bus loses leg, still critical

  Crystal Kobza

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Nearly two weeks after a teenager was hit by a METRO bus while crossing Bellaire Boulevard, she remains in critical condition.

Charmaine James, an 18-year-old Hasting High School student, is only in the beginning stages of recovery after being hit by a METRO bus on October 1.

We spoke to her mother -- Chandre Rogers, a METRO bus driver herself -- on Sunday about her recovery and the road she has ahead.

The accident caused severe damage to Charmaine's right leg.

"They amputated her right foot and then yesterday they had to go above her knee," Rogers explained.

Rogers said her daughter and a friend made it across the first set of lanes on Bellaire and into the median. Her daughter then attempted to make it all the way across, she said, but she was hit by the bus.

"Her friend told me that she was knocked like 15 feet," Rogers said.

Rogers said she works out of the same West bus operating facility, but does not know the driver who struck her daughter.

She added that her co-workers have been helping her through this difficult time.

'I have a friend of mine, Ms. Vanessa. She has been here with me from day one," Roger said. "The first night, my superintendent from our garage, they were there."

As for Charmaine, her mother tells us she has been heavily sedated since the accident. The only thing her daughter has said that she was able to understand was when she tried to ask what happened.

'I put God first and I know He is going to take care of my baby," Rogers said. "She is still in critical condition, but I have faith in God that she is going to pull through this."

Rogers says her daughter is an aspiring biology teacher and she will be there every step of the way as this long journey of healing begins.

The investigation into the accident is still underway. METRO police say the driver of the bus, 61-year-old Otis Stewart, is not working at this time.

So far, no citations have been issued.

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