Home
>
News
>
Local News
Staff photo by Apryl Pilolli
Emergency squad members help injured students after an accident involving two Kings school buses sent 17 children to three area hospitals Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009.
Bus crash sends 17 students to hospitals in Warren County
By Eric Schwartzberg and Marie Rossiter
Staff writers Updated 4:44 PM Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Staff writers Updated 4:44 PM Tuesday, November 24, 2009
An accident involving two Kings school buses sent 17 students to three area hospitals Tuesday, Nov. 24, for injuries, according to Lebanon police.
Four buses filled with eighth-graders were on the way to the Warren County Career Center for an orientation when the accident occurred on Miller Road in Lebanon, according to police.
Police said Bill Hauck, 64, was driving the lead bus around 11:40 a.m. and had apparently stopped when a second bus driven by Carmen Nattos, 36, collided with it. Some of the children complained of shoulder and neck pain, Kings Superintendent Valerie Browning said, but by Tuesday afternoon all the children were released by the hospitals.
Eighth-grader Sophia Moriarty sat in the back of the bus and was one of four students transferred to Bethesda Medical Center at Arrow Springs after complaining of shoulder pain.
“I’m still in shock,” Moriarty said. “All I remember is the bus driver hit the brakes really hard and the bus behind us hit us. It made us fly forward and then snap back.”
Moriarty’s mother, Karen Moriarty, received a phone call from paramedics and her daughter not long after the accident.
“You certainly don’t expect to get a call like that” said Karen Moriarty. “They let Sophia talk to me, so I knew right away that she was OK. I was still a bit apprehensive, though.”
The parents of the transported students were notified by school officials and a general automated call was made to all parents of eighth graders once the scene was clear, Browning said.
State law mandates that both drivers involved in the accident report to local hospitals for drug testing, according to Browning. The buses will also be removed from the fleet for safety inspections.
Sgt. Dave Gehringer said Lebanon police are investigating the accident, including testing the buses, which are owned and operated by Petermanss, for mechanical malfunction. No charges have been filed.
Dennis Devine, area manager for Petermann, said Hauck was hired in October 2008 and Nattos in September 2006. Neither driver has been the subject of disciplinary action during their tenure, he said.
Disciplinary action is possible, pending the results of a police and company investigation, Devine said.
The last accident to occur in the Kings school district occurred Nov. 18, when a drive attempted to make a U-turn at a dead end but did not see another bus before striking it, Devine said. Children were on the bus at the time of the incident, but no one was injured.
Petermann buses undergo preventative maintenance on a regular basis and are inspected annually by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Devine said.
Officials shut down the westbound side of Miller Road for more than an hour to help response teams assess the situation.
The two school buses not involved in the crash and two additional school buses arrived to transport uninjured students back to Kings Junior High School.
Share this article
User comments are not being accepted on this article.