Police say a driver was arrested after a 10-year-old girl was fatally struck by a school bus Tuesday morning.

Investigators say Patience Albert was walking in the crosswalk on Wortman Avenue and Crescent Street with her brother when the school bus tried to turn onto the block and hit both of them. They say the girl did not survive. Her brother was looked at by paramedics, but his condition was not immediately available.

Sources say the bus was contracted by the Department of Education and that there were no students on board at the time. Sources also say that the driver was suspended pending the outcome of drug and alcohol testing.

Police confirmed that driver, 61-year-old Edward Colon, was arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.

Family friend Stephanie Lappost says she was taking her child to school around 6:20 a.m. when she heard police cars heading to the intersection where the two kids were struck. She says the girl commonly walked to school with her older brother.

Achievement First Charter Schools confirms that the girl was a student at one of its schools and it says it is devastated and heartbroken.

In a statement, the school said, "Students and staff are receiving counseling support from our schools across the network as well as the New York City Department of Education as we deal with this awful news. She will be deeply missed by all of us, and our hearts are with her family."

Neighbors say dangerous driving is common in the area.

“I see it every day,” says Lucy Diaz-Williams. “It's something that we've been complaining about for a long time and nobody has really heard our calls.”

Councilmember Inez Barron says her office has not heard of any complaints, but she came to the scene to see what improvements could be made.
 
“I did want to come and see where the incident occurred, try to get a sense of what kinds of traffic measures are ready in place, and we do see that there's an all ways stop sign at each of the four corners, but we need to see what else we can do,” says Barron.

News 12 asked Total Transportation, the bus company involved, for a statement, but they said they had no comment.