  |
|||
SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2007School Bus Crash Injures Seven
Five students, the bus driver and the driver of the other vehicle were taken to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. Authorities say all the injuries were minor. School officials say the bus was about halfway through its route to St. Francis High School and Middle School. "We didn't really know what was happening. Everybody was just screaming and yelling," said Angela Dugas, who was riding the bus. Angela was sitting in the front of the bus. Her sister, Julia, was in the back. "We just started swerving a lot and then we fell over and some of the windows started breaking and, yah it was scary," said Julia Dugas. "Anytime you see any kind of a school bus that's been in any kind of an accident, it's always disconcerting," said St. Francis superintendent Ed Saxton. Joe Cich picked up his 12-year-old daughter. This is the second time his kids have been in a school bus crash. "My first thought was, not again," said Cich. "5 or 6 years ago, my two older kids were in a crash at Viking Blvd. and Jackson Street. That had a rollover too on its side." Parents say it was the same route, but a different driver. "You roll up on a scene and you see a bus turned over on a car like this, you think the worst," said Capt. Dave Jenkins with the Anoka County Sheriff's Department. But from the worst, it was the best possible outcome Wednesday. There were no serious injuries. And for students like Julia and Angela Dugas, it was just a day - turned upside down. "I was really surprised that no one really got hurt that bad. And it was just weird looking back at the bus and seeing it on its side and knowing that we were in it like that," said Angela. The bus driver, 57-year-old Nancy Mei of Ham Lake, has been driving school buses for ten years. This is her first year with the St. Francis School District. School officials say she had a minor accident last fall. She backed into a light pole, trying to get out of a cul de sac. The Minnesota State Patrol is reconstructing Wednesday's crash. At this point, investigators don't think there was anything mechanically wrong with the bus. By Trisha Volpe 7 Hurt in Andover School Bus Accident
|
|||
