SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2007

Man Killed in Accident Involving a School Bus
February 21, 2007

LIBERTY — A man on his way to work was killed Tuesday morning when his truck crossed into oncoming traffic and hit a school bus for special needs students, authorities said.

No students were on the bus.

Donald Lee Brown, 45, of 6063 Davis Country Road in Randleman, was pronounced dead at the site of the wreck on Old U.S. 421 south of the Guilford County line.

It was the second fatal wreck in the past month involving a Randolph County school bus.

Highway Patrol investigators said Brown, who was going to work in Liberty, struck the bus at 6:18 a.m.

The bus driver, 49-year-old Kathy McNeal, of Ramseur, and bus monitor, Viola Lambert, 74, were the only people on the bus, Trooper T.V. Story said.

Neither woman on the bus was injured seriously.

Speed does not appear to have been a factor in the wreck and charges will not be filed, Story said. Brown was wearing his seatbelt.

The wreck happened almost exactly four weeks to the minute after another fatal collision in eastern Randolph County.

Two men died after a Jan. 23 wreck on U.S. 421 near Julian Airport Road when a school bus entered the highway in front of their oncoming car.

Authorities have not filed charges in that case but have not ruled out the possibility.

By Eric J.S. Townsend

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