By Fallan Patterson

Staff Writer

Friends and family gathered Wednesday night for a candlelight vigil to mourn a fun-loving fourth-grader who died Nov. 4 after he and his brother were hit by a Lynx bus in Kissimmee.

Matthew Robinson, 10, loved eating at Chinese buffets, going to the beach and playing the popular interactive video game Rock Band with his brother and cousins.

According to family spokesperson Jeremy Markman, Matthew and his 12-year-old brother, Mark Robinson, had just finished watching the action movie “Pearl Harbor” before walking to the Kangaroo Express convenience store on the corner of Dyer Boulevard and Columbia Avenue to buy eggs – Matthew’s favorite food – and soda.

The boys had to walk north on Dyer Boulevard and cross Columbia Avenue to get home. According to the crash report released Wednesday by the Kissimmee Police Department, as the boys were in the crosswalk at 6:48 p.m., a Lynx bus driven by Fernando L. Vega made a left turn to head west on Columbia and stuck both boys, pulling them under the bus. Matthew was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It seems that all the evidence points to Lynx being at fault,” Markman said.

The investigation is ongoing and no one had been charged at press time Friday.

Markman said at Wednesday’s press conference that Mark said the boys pressed the crosswalk button and waited for the pedestrian signal to flash white before crossing. Mark told Markman his brother was just a step behind him when the bus struck them. Mark told Markman he grabbed onto the bike rack on the front of the bus to prevent being dragged completely under the bus.

“Matt and Mark were taught to look both ways before crossing the street, wait on the sidewalk until the pedestrian signal changes and cross in the crosswalk,” Markman said. “That is what they did and still they were not safe.”

The investigation has not shown whether the boys did press the crosswalk button; the button has been removed and is being dusted for fingerprints, according to police spokesperson Stacie Miller.

Vega had the green light to turn, however, the intersection’s left turn lane does not have a green arrow, Miller said. In this instance, Miller said, pedestrians have the right of way to cross the street at a crosswalk.

While there are no cameras at the intersection, investigators are analyzing the videos captured by the four cameras in the bus.

According to Lynx spokes-man Matthew Friedman, Vega, 63, had a careless driving citation in February 2007 for rear-ending a car while driving a bus in Orange County. According to personnel records, Vega had previously worked for seven years in White Plaines, N.Y., transporting wheelchair-bound passengers.

The seven-year employee is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

“As an agency, we are deeply saddened for the Robinson family. We are completely cooperating with the Kissimmee Police Department during their ongoing investigation as to the cause of Thursday evening’s accident. We have no new information to release at this time but will provide details as they become available,” Friedman said in a Nov. 5 statement.

According to Friedman, all Osceola County Lynx bus routes go through the Columbia Avenue and Dyer Boulevard intersection and the turn Vega made Nov. 4 is made 30,000 times a year by Lynx drivers collectively.

Police officials are seeking any witnesses to the accident, in particular a man described as a black man driving a black pickup truck east on Columbia Avenue at the time of the accident.

Markman said Mark suffered several injuries, including a broken back, and is recovering at home with his mother.

“No one is more alone than a mother who has lost a child but she is clinging to her older boy just as Mark clung to the front of that bus,” Markman said. “The grip they have on each other feels like they are saving each other’s lives.”

Matthew had his final school portraits taken just last week at Kissimmee Elementary School. When Lifetouch Photography heard about the accident, the company sent a photo CD overnight at no charge to the boy’s mother.

There will not be a local funeral service for Matthew. Friends have set up an account at Bank of America to help his mother with funeral arrangements as well as to offset medical expenses for Mark. Donations can be made at any branch location under an account for Matthew and Mark Robinson.