Police: Charges pending against driver who hit children at bus stop

TAMPA (FOX 13) - After a crash at a Tampa bus stop Thursday injured five children and two adults, police say charges are pending against the driver.

Behind the wheel, police say, was 47-year-old Brian Darnell West.

His father, Eugene Smith, spoke with FOX 13 News Friday.

“Seems like he doing OK but he was telling me it wasn’t that bad,” Smith said. “He said they ran out in front of him and that’s why they didn’t give him a ticket,” he said.

Laura Chavez and her 6-year-old son were among the injured. They have since been let out of the hospital. 

“They saw the car coming but he stopped on the top of the grass or something and they got confident he was going to stop. The moment they were going to cross the car started heading towards them and hit them,” she said through a translator. 

She says they were still on the grass.

Witnesses said West may have been speeding.

FOX 13 looked into his past and found he has been cited for speeding before, as well as failure to stop. He is also a registered sex offender with multiple priors. 

Edin Galindo's two girls were also hit. Allison, 6, has broken bones and punctured lungs according to her family. 

She has gone through at least one surgery at Tampa General.

Perla, 12, is going to be OK.

“Hard times he hasn't had any time to react or think about it he says he's still in shock,” Galindo said through a translator.

Tampa police say charges are pending against West. He did stop and cooperated with police. They say he did not appear impaired at the time.