Neighbors Turn To Each Other For Peace In The Face Of Tragic Loss

The views expressed in this column are the author's own.

MAMARONECK, NY — This is a special time of year for kindergarteners and their parents. Caps and gowns are donned, and first day of school pictures are dug up to see kids that are a little smaller and a bit less independent. The progress that makes parents and young classmates swell with pride is measured in laughs and smiles, in new friends and new skills that seemed so far away last fall.

But, for one Westchester family, that joy-filled rite of passage was taken away in just a few tragic seconds on the walk to the final days of class before a summer of riding bikes and begging to go to the pool.

As temperatures rise into the nineties, New York City news vans descend on the Village of Mamaroneck Municipal Building where a small tent was erected to protect from the elements while village officials share what they know.

Despite the telescoping satellite towers and banks of cameras, those standing at the podium in this close-knit Sound Shore village are not polished communications professionals — they are the first responders who arrived on the scene, the village officers who comforted loved ones and the rescue workers who raced frantically to attempt to save a life.

Authorities offer a staid professional outline of the tragic events that unfolded Thursday morning, but glassy eyes and cracked voices betray a deep sadness shared amongst the ranks and throughout the town. Still, they soberly answer questions and recount a timeline that makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up.

At around 8:30 a.m, the Village of Mamaroneck Police Department received multiple 911 calls reporting a child and an adult being struck on Mamaroneck Avenue near New Street. Officers and detectives were dispatched to the location, as well as an ambulance, according to authorities.

Six-year-old Michael Donovan Volpe and his mother, 43-year-old Molly Murphy Donovan, were found lying in the roadway. The child was pronounced dead at the scene. The mother was taken to the hospital for further treatment, and later died.

An initial investigation revealed that a school bus was traveling eastbound from New Street and turning left onto Mamaroneck Avenue with the green light. The bus was en route to Mamaroneck Avenue School and had several students and an aide on board. None of the passengers sustained any injuries.

As the bus was turning, there were several parents and children crossing the street at the crosswalk with the walk sign. The driver of the school bus is cooperating with investigators, and it appears, at this time, that this incident was a tragic accident, police officials said.

The child who attended kindergarten at Mamaroneck Avenue School and the 43-year-old mother of the child were residents of Mamaroneck.

The bus driver is a 68-year-old man from Mount Vernon. At this time, police said, there are no charges pending.

There will be a time for blame. How could there not be? When a kindergartner is run over on his way to school, it is a failure. Perhaps an unforeseeable failure, but a failure nonetheless.

Village of Mamaroneck Police Chief Sandra DiRuzza, an imposing figure, who in just a couple of weeks will likely be found walking the crowds and greeting neighbors with a warm smile at the Fireman's Carnival and Parade, said she would be meeting with the mayor and the Westchester County executive to investigate ways to improve pedestrian and traffic safety at the intersection in the days to come.

But for now, DiRuzza says her thoughts are with the family, the school community and her officers who arrived at a horrific scene.

Mayor Sharon Torres, who won election in November, says her focus for now will be on helping a family in crisis and healing a community struggling with loss.

"The next few days will be difficult for our village as the investigation continues and all who knew the victims try to adjust," Torres says. "Please keep them all in your hearts. Be grateful for those you love and take the time to show it. Life is short and we just never know what will happen."

Torres adds that Mamaroneck is a community that looks out for each other and neighbors are already organizing efforts to help support the family as they mourn.

The mayor's words aren't just a platitude. There is evidence that this seaside village has an oversized heart. In the days after flooding from Ida ravaged the village, dozens lined up at the Red Cross shelter with food, blankets, socks and checks to make sure their neighbors were comfortable even as they struggled to rebuild their own lives.

Hours after the officials spoke, many of those same neighbors and a few strangers gathered at the site of the tragedy.

As the first fireflies of summer drifted above the nearby Mamaroneck River, they came to remember an energetic 6-year-old and a doting mother. They came to offer their embrace for friends in pain. They came to pray the rosary. They came to lay down favorite toys, including the Hulk and Spiderman.

And a few young peers came to say goodbye to a classmate.

There will be time for anger. There will be time for recriminations.

For now, as a mayor stands under a relentless sun and the glare of camera lights, and thinks about how to let a family help keep their privacy amid grief and how to help heal a community in pain, she turns her focus to a Mamaroneck solidarity that has helped lead the village through deep sorrows in the much too recent past.

"In addition to the shock and sadness, I also know there is a lot of anger right now," Torres would later say. "Everyone is entitled to those feelings and I'm sure there are things we can do better to try to avoid further fatalities. We will work together as a community to support the family, friends, neighbors and students who are dealing with this loss."

She said there is work to be done.

"We will also find a way to address the safety issues that are increasing as our village changes. More and more people are driving thru the village to get to 95, stopping at restaurants and other shops, and more kids are enrolled in and walking to school. As a village we need to find a way to prioritize safety and adapt to the development that has taken place in the Village. Right up there with flooding, this should be our highest priority."

The policy decisions about development density and traffic patterns, while necessary, will come with controversy, unintended consequences and tough questions from journalists.

But for now, this particular reporter is going to give a long hug to his own six-year-old waiting at school.

SEE ALSO:

• Authorities Identify Mom and Kindergartener Killed By School Bus
• Kindergartener, Mother Killed By School Bus Near Mamaroneck Ave School