A Concord Police sergeant was suspended on Thursday after a viral video showed him passing a stopped school bus and narrowly missing a student after she stepped off the bus, city officials said.

Sgt. Matthew Willet was cited by the North Carolina Highway Patrol for passing a stopped school bus and was placed on administrative duty by the Concord Police Department pending an administrative investigation, according to a City of Concord news release last week.

Passing a stopped school bus is a class 1 misdemeanor.

On May 11, the department finished its investigation and Chief Gary Gacek said he would suspend Willet without pay for five days.

“As a parent whose children rode the school bus for many years, I completely understand that anger. This officer, Matthew Willet, did the wrong thing,” Gaeck said in a statement Thursday.

“Some on social media have called for me to fire Matt over his mistake. This was a serious error and he is being held accountable for it, but I want to be clear: this simply doesn’t rise to the level of firing him.”

Willet is a 15-year veteran of the department and has never had a citizen complaint before, Gaeck said.

“Matt accepted full responsibility for his mistake and deeply regrets what happened,” Gaeck said. “The investigation showed that he was behind another car in traffic when he pulled into a turn lane to turn right into a neighborhood. He failed to see the flashing lights and was unaware the bus was stopped to let a child off.”

Video shows NC officer passing school bus

The video shared on social media shows an officer “breaking the law and endangering a child,” according to the city news release. “The actions of this driver are something no one should do, especially not an officer who is held to a higher standard.”

The near-miss of the student unfolds over just several seconds, video shows.

Public records show the incident occurred on Odell School Road in Cabarrus County.

The student who stepped from the Cabarrus County Schools bus stood frozen as the officer passed on the door side of the bus in a marked Concord Police Department car, according to the video shared by Orlando Almazan Jr. on Thursday.

He later said the bus driver got the attention of his daughter, who was almost hit.

The student stood for several more seconds as if in shock before walking down the gravel driveway of a home, the video shows.

“Unacceptable!” the student’s father, Orlando Almazan Jr., said in a caption under the video of the incident that he shared on Facebook.

On Facebook, he thanked everyone for their concerns. “This matter is getting addressed,” he said.

“I also want to give a HUGE thanks to the bus driver (Mr. B) for noticing the patrol car and getting my daughter’s attention,” Almazan said on Facebook.

Police said that as soon as they saw the video they tried to reach the child’s family to check on her. Officers talked with the student’s father the next morning, police officials said.