INDIANAPOLIS — Michael Stahl didn’t get to say goodbye to his daughter.
“I didn’t get to give her a hug, I didn’t get to give her a kiss, she was gone,” he said Wednesday about his 9-year-old daughter, Olivia Stahl.
Olivia and her two siblings were struck and killed in October while they crossed the street to get on a school bus in Fulton County, Indiana. The school bus’s stop arm and exterior lighting were activated at the time.
Michael gave his testimony in support of an Indiana Senate bill that would raise the penalties for people who pass buses with the stop arm out.
His words came slowly and carefully as he emotionally described his daughter’s final moments.
“To see my daughter after everything, I looked into those eyes and they weren’t her eyes,” he said. “They were gone. They were hollow.”
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Head’s bill would also require schools to make sure children don’t have to cross a state highway to get to a bus, and allow schools to petition to reduce speed limits around bus stops.
The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously. It will move to the full Senate.
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