SCHOOL BUS CRASH
REPORTS 2007
21 Kids Hospitalized With 'Bumps and
Bruises' After Bus Accident
March 8, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill. - Twenty-one
elementary school children from Calumet City were transported to
hospitals Thursday after their bus hit a pothole at Governor's State
University in south suburban University Park.
Fire crews originally responded just
after noon for a patient with a head injury, and when they got to the
scene at 1 University Drive on the Governor's Staste campus, they found
multiple patients, according to University Park Fire Deputy Chief
Charles Exner.
Fifty kids ages 8 to 10 from School
District 156 in Calumet City were on the bus, and when they got off and
went inside the school, they began complaining, Exner said. The bus had
"hit a curb or pothole and jarred the students on the bus,'' Exner said.
It was unknown exactly where the pothole
was, but it was somewhere on the school grounds, Exner said.
"Twenty-nine of them did not require
medical attention,'' but 21 were taken to St. James Hospital and Health
Centers in Olympia Fields, Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel
Crest and Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Exner said.
"Their injuries were
non-life-threatening, they suffered bumps and bruises,'' Exner said. The
head injury the first ambulance responded to was the most serious, he
said. It was a bump on the head.
"Ultimately, we went to a third alarm,
which brought in 14 ambulances,'' Exner said. The bus driver was not
injured.
The kids were on a field trip to the
Center for Performing Arts on campus to watch a performance of "Freedom
Train,'' according to a release from the school. On the way, the bus was
involved in a minor, single-vehicle accident, according to the release.
The release gave a conflicting account of
how many kids were on the bus. Thirty kids, the driver and two adult
chaperones were on the bus, according to the school.
Parents of all students involved were
notified of the incident and the bus operator, Kickert School Bus Co.,
was notified of the incident.
Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago
Sun-Times 2006
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