WAXAHACHIE, TX (9/2/2014) — Twelve Waxahachie ISD students have been injured after a school bus tipped onto its side while on the way to Clift Elementary School.
The accident happened near FM 879 and Ike Road at around 6:50 a.m. after (according to reports) “something in the back of the bus distracted the driver, causing him to look away from the road.” Apparently the rear wheel of the bus left the road while the driver was making a turn. The driver then swerved into the opposite lane, overcorrected, and tipped the bus over as it left the roadway.
According to 11-year-old Damien Beck, “He was swerving just a little, and then he started going fast and then we flipped over.” Sr. Trooper James Colunga with the Texas Department of Public Safety added “[We are] very lucky no one was going in the opposite direction, because you did notice he did cross into that opposite lane there.”
Since the school bus did not have seat belts, the children were violently thrown during the rollover accident. It’s been reported that there was at least one broken arm and several neck strains. 10-year-old Fernando Rocha remains in the hospital after breaking two ribs in the crash. Rocha also has a bruised kidney and a possible bruised liver. All 11 other victims have been released.
Eight children were treated for head and neck pain as well as abdominal problems at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. The driver and seven other children were treated at Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie.
