Third Grader’s Skull Fractured After Rock Smashes Through School Bus Window On NJ Turnpike

TEANECK, NJ — An 8-year-old girl at an Orthodox Jewish school in North Jersey suffered a skull fracture Wednesday after someone threw a rock at the window of at her school bus, officials said.

Third graders at Yeshivat Noam in Paramus were returning from a class trip to Liberty Science Center in Jersey City around 2 p.m. when the bus was hit, a school spokesperson said Thursday.

The bus was traveling northbound in the right lane, near Exit 70A/B in Teaneck, said State Police Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron.

"As the bus was exiting the New Jersey Turnpike at Teaneck Road, an unidentified individual threw an object at the vehicle, shattering a window," said a statement from the school. "One student sustained a skull fracture and is currently receiving medical treatment."

A report in Yeshiva World said the rock was the size of a baseball.

“Our focus remains on supporting the injured student and her family, as well as ensuring the emotional health of our entire student body,” Rabbi Chaim Hagler, the head of school at Yeshivat Noam, said. “We are working closely with law enforcement to ensure a thorough investigation.”

He said guidance and mental health counselors were on hand to help the students and their families.

The New Jersey State Police are investigating, along with Teaneck police, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, and the county prosecutor’s office.

Anyone who may have witnessed the incident or has information about it, including dash camera
video, is asked to contact the State Police Troop “D” Newark Station Detective Bureau at 732-441-4500, ext. 1401. Anonymous tips are welcome, police said.