Bicyclist struck and killed by school bus in Brooklyn Park

A bicyclist was killed after being hit by a school bus Wednesday morning in Brooklyn Park.

The crash occurred about 6:30 a.m. at the intersection of 65th and Zane Avenues N., about a block south of Interstate 94, said Deputy Chief Mark Bruley of the Brooklyn Park Police Department.

The man struck by the bus was pronounced dead at the scene, Bruley said.

Investigators late Wednesday morning were still trying to determine how the crash happened. The bus operated by Lake Country Transportation was headed east on 65th Avenue and turned right to go south on Zane when the crash happened. It was not immediately clear which direction the bicyclist was traveling, but "somehow got in front of the bus," Bruley said.

Preliminary indications show that the driver was not impaired, Bruley said.

About 10 students on their way to a north Minneapolis charter school were on the bus at the time of the crash. None of them were hurt, but Bruley said, "They were upset by what they saw."

He added that some parents came to pick up their kids.

Other students were transferred to another bus that took them to school, Bruley said.

The bus driver remained on the scene and was cooperating with crash investigators that included Brooklyn Park Police, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and the Minnesota State Patrol.

Authorities closed a section of Zane Avenue for about 3 hours and diverted traffic around the crash scene.

A woman who answered the phone at the bus company based in Loretto, Minn., declined to comment and directed calls to a Maple Plain insurance office.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768