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Cabarrus bus driver charged with reckless driving
Photo by James Nix
Jacob White, shows Officer Ken Sims and his father Rick White a scratch on his elbow he got when the activity bus he was riding overturned on I-77 in Charlotte Wednesday morning. The bus, carrying students from Cox Mill Elementary School, was on it ways to a camp. Sims helped White's parents get to the CMPD office to pick up Jacob.
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Published: April 30, 2009
Updated: 04/30/2009 05:54 pm
Cabarrus County Schools bus driver Tonia Crowell has been charged with reckless driving after Wednesday's wreck on Interstate 77, according to the N.C. State Highway Patrol.
As she drove one of the three activity buses from Cox Mill Elementary School to Camp Thunderbird for a field trip Wednesday, Crowell was distracted by a bee and overcorrected, according to the Highway Patrol's investigation. Speed was not a factor, said Sgt. F.J. Hargro with the Highway Patrol.
Crowell is currently suspended with pay, said Ronnye Boone, public relations director for the school system. Crowell has been employed with the school system for about two years.
Fifty-eight fifth-grade students and two other adults were on the bus when it flipped on its side near the Brookshire Freeway, injuring 36 people, around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.
One student on the bus, an 11-year-old boy, was rushed into surgery at Presbyterian Hospital and is now in good condition, said Marcia Meredith, a spokeswoman for the hospital.
Other injured parties have been released from Carolinas Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital.
A day after the wreck, the school system said it is happy there were not more serious injuries.
"I'm very glad the situation was not any worse, even though it was unfortunate that people got hurt," Boone said.
The fifth-graders at Cox Mill spoke with social workers Thursday morning about how they were feeling, Boone said.
Many fifth-grade students said Wednesday that a lot of their peers were upset and wanted to call their parents after the wreck.
"Those kids were emotional," said Mitzi Dempsey, mother of Alysa, 11, who was on one of the other buses not in the accident. "I tried to calm as many of her friends as I could. They were physically shaking."
Several students who were on the bus that flipped said it was like a dream.
"At first it didn't seem like it was real, and when we hit the ground, all of the people were on top of me," said Keaton Clark, 11, a fifth grade student sitting near the back of the bus during the wreck.
Chase Stinnard, who was also on the bus that flipped, said he was just happy to be off the bus.
Since the field trip was canceled, counselors from Camp Thunderbird visited the fifth grade students on Thursday so they could participate in teambuilding activities.
A day after the wreck at the district office, Boone spoke about the successful implementation of the school system's emergency response plan.
"Everybody knew their role and stepped into their role the way you want people to when you have that kind of emergency," Boone said.
When the accident first occurred, the staff at Cox Mill Elementary School notified the district office as a part of the school system's emergency response plan.
Both Phil Hall, the school's principal, and George Douglas, the transportation director for the school system, arrived at the accident scene. Superintendent Barry Shepherd joined them, traveling from his meeting in Charlotte.
When he arrived at the scene, Shepherd learned his daughter was on the bus in the accident, but she was not injured.
The district office sent social workers to the hospitals where the injured parties were being transported and to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters on Trade Street, where those not going to the hospitals were sent.
Cox Mill sent a ConnectEd message to parents via telephone to let them know about the accident and where to pick up any children who were going on the field trip. As the school learned the identities of the injured students, the staff also contacted the parents with that information.
The school system originally told parents to pick up children who were not seriously injured from Cox Mill before learning from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department that they would have to be released from the police headquarters. Boone said the emergency response plan may need to be altered a bit.
"We will need to say that we will follow guidelines and procedures of whichever government agency that has jurisdiction would require," Boone said. "I would think that would be the better way for the plan to be worded."
Boone said the school system was pleasantly surprised by the additional assistance at the crime scene from people who stopped and helped calm the children before the emergency vehicles arrived.
"It speaks volumes to the humanity of those folks," Boone said.
Contact reporter Jessica Groover: 704-789-9152
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