N.C.P.I.—Crim. 270.76

The defendant has been charged with striking a person and causing

serious bodily injury while passing a stopped school bus.

For you to find the defendant guilty of this offense, the State must

prove six things beyond a reasonable doubt:

First, that a school bus1 was being operated on a [street] [highway]

[public vehicular area].2

Second, that the school bus bore upon its front and rear a plainly

visible sign containing the words "school bus".

Third, that this school bus was [displaying an activated or extended

mechanical stop sign] [flashing its red stoplights] and was stopped for

the purpose of receiving or discharging passengers.

Fourth, that the defendant was the driver of a vehicle approaching

this school bus on the same [street] [highway] [public vehicular area].

Fifth, that the defendant willfully [moved the defendant’s vehicle]

[[passed] [attempted to pass] the school bus with the defendant’s

vehicle] before the mechanical stop signal of the bus had been

withdrawn, the flashing red stoplights had been turned off and before the

school bus had started to move.

And Sixth, that the defendant struck the victim causing the victim

serious bodily injury. Serious bodily injury is defined as bodily injury that

creates or causes [a substantial risk of death] [serious permanent

disfigurement] [coma] [a permanent or protracted condition that causes

extreme pain] [permanent or protracted loss or impairment of the

functions of any bodily member or organ] [prolonged hospitalization].3

If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or

about the alleged date a school bus was being operated on a [street]

[highway] [public vehicular area], that it bore upon its front and rear a

plainly visible sign containing the words "school bus", that this school bus

was [displaying an activated or extended mechanical stop sign] [flashing

its red stoplights] and was stopped for the purpose of discharging or

receiving passengers, that a vehicle being operated by the defendant

approached this school bus on the same [street] [highway] [public

vehicular area], that the defendant willfully [moved the defendant’s

vehicle] [[passed] [attempted to pass] this school bus with the

defendant’s vehicle before the mechanical stop signal had been

withdrawn, the flashing red stoplights had been turned off and the school

bus had started to move, and that the defendant struck the victim

causing the victim serious bodily injury, it would be your duty to return a

verdict of guilty. If you do not so find or have a reasonable doubt as to

one or more of these things, it would be your duty to return a verdict of

not guilty.4