SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2007

Georgetown Crash Hurts 6 Teens - Speed May Have Been a Factor
April 3, 2007

Speed may have been a factor in a wreck yesterday that sent six teenagers to hospitals after the Plymouth Neon they were riding in ran off a road in Georgetown, Ind., authorities said.

Five of the injured were taken to University Hospital in Louisville, including two by helicopter, and the other was taken to Floyd Memorial Hospital.

Their names and conditions were not released last night.

The six, ages 15 to 17, were headed west on Cooks Mill Road after school about 3 p.m. when the driver lost control of the car, Floyd County Police said.

Alcohol was not believed to be a factor in the wreck, but speed appears to have played a role, Officer Brad Powell said.

Tracks at the scene showed the car left the road about 100 yards short of the intersection, angled across a field, crossed Kepley Road, hit an embankment and landed in a cornfield on the southeast side of the intersection.

Powell said at least one of the teens was not wearing a seat belt.

A school bus carrying students from Highland Hills Middle School arrived at the intersection just after the accident.

One bus passenger, eighth-grader Patrick Harbison, said the car was on fire when the bus reached the intersection.

"There was a kid who pulled this girl out and she went limp in his arms, and she later started screaming that she couldn't feel her legs," he said.

The car was so badly damaged that "it was hard to find out which end was the front," Patrick said.

The injured were two boys and two girls from Floyd Central High School, a boy from Highland Hills, and another boy whose school was unknown, said Dave Rarick, a spokesman for New Albany-Floyd County Schools.

By Harold J. Adamsand Charlie White
The Courier-Journal

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