School Bus Accident in Grand Prairie
Austin News Reports, GRAND PRAIRIE - School bus driver Norma Jones said she saw the sport utility vehicle out of the corner of her eye about 3:30 p.m., but things happened so fast she could do nothing about it.
The SUV hit the school bus once in the front and once on the side, said Jones, 44. The bus spun around in the street, flipped over the curb and hit a traffic control box, sending the 28 passengers airborne as the bus came to rest on its left side about 30 feet southeast of where it was hit at Burney Road and the service road of Texas 360.
"I just tried to keep the bus on its wheels," Jones said. "But obviously that didn't work."
Nine of the children, all from Larson Elementary School in Grand Prairie and 6 to 12 years old, were taken to hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. Six were taken by Grand Prairie Fire Department ambulances to Children's Medical Center in Dallas; four were released by 9:45 p.m. The other children were taken to Arlington Memorial Hospital.
The remainder of the 27 children who were on the bus were released to their parents at the scene or taken home on another bus, an Arlington school district official said.
Jones and teacher Kay Davis, 53, who rides to assist Jones, helped students get off the bus. About 20 people rushed to help, then disappeared without waiting for any thank-yous, Davis said.
"Everybody was upside down," Davis said. "The glass started breaking, and tree branches were poking into the bus. It was horrible. One child landed on me, and I think I landed on the child to my left."
Davis said she kicked open the hatch on the roof of the bus and started lifting children up through the emergency exit. Good Samaritans helped lift children out and entered the bus to retrieve children and check on the driver, Davis said.
Estella Flores, a parent of two children on the bus, said a neighbor told her about the accident. Neither of her children was hurt, she said.
"When I first heard what happened I was scared to death," Flores said. "But I was very relieved when I got here, and they were OK."
One of Flores' children, 8-year-old Jason Alejo, said two men dressed in brown helped him off the bus.
"Everybody was flying around," Jason said. "Everybody was calling for their mom and dad."
The driver of the SUV, Christine Fielder, 37, of Arlington, and her three children, ages 4, 7, and 11, were not injured. Fielder will be cited for running a red light, according to a statement from Eric Hansen, Grand Prairie police spokesman.
www.star-telegram.com/804/story/609302.html
