BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Rescue workers at Tuesday's bus crash.
(Gary Landers photo)
| ZOOM |
|
MASON -- Sketchy information traveled from friends to neighbors. In disbelief, they repeated the scarce details heard in the supermarkets, on the streets and from the radio.
Two buses crashed. Ninety kids. Multiple injuries.
The news sent frantic parents racing Tuesday morning to the accident site near Kings Island in southern Warren County.
The cacophony of more than two dozen ambulances, fire trucks and emergency vehicles did nothing to assuage parents' fears. Many burst into tears at the sight of fifth- and sixth-grade students from Columbia Elementary School strapped to backboards. Panicked, the parents ran from one cluster of emergency workers to another, looking for the sons or daughters they sent off to school a half-hour earlier.
The 90 kids on Kings Local School District's buses No. 15 and No. 31 weren't seriously injured. Still, all but about 15 went to hospitals to check on bumps and bruises, headaches and stiff necks caused when Bus 15 rear-ended Bus 31 going about 25 to 30 mph at the stoplight on Kings Island Drive at Western Row Road. By Tuesday evening, all of the children had been treated at five hospitals and released.
For parent Angela Booth, the accident reinforced her philosophy: "You always got to tell your babies you love them before they go off to school."
The South Lebanon mother heard about the crash over a police scanner and rushed to Kings Island Drive to see about her daughter, 10-year-old Amanda Bird.
Hospitals gear up for worst
|
|
Months ago, a school bus crash was just a drill at a local hospital. Tuesday it was a reality.
When two Kings Local School District buses collided on Kings Island Drive, injuring about 75 students, agencies and hospitals activated disaster plans to coordinate the emergency.
|STORY|
|
"She's fine," Ms. Booth said, red-rimmed eyes blinking back tears. "But I was scared. I started crying. You just never know what can happen."
Landen mother Paula Kubicki ran from bus to bus.
"Who was on them? What grade?" she asked. Her voice trembled. When she discovered these buses were transporting older children, her shoulders slumped in relief. Her first-grade son, Josh, was safe.
Mason police were investigating to determine whether to ticket the driver of Bus 15, Joyce Toppen, 42, of Maineville, for failing to maintain assured clear distance, a misdemeanor that likely would carry a $50 to $75 fine, Patrolman Paul Martin said.
Ms. Toppen told officers and school officials the brakes didn't seem to be working correctly, Mr. Martin said.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol tested the brakes after the accident; and Motor Carrier Enforcement Inspector M.D. Shotsky found both the front and rear were out of adjustment. Still, the problem likely wasn't enough to cause an accident, said Richard Porter, Kings Local Schools' transportation director. The bus passed its annual inspection by the highway patrol July 26 and was scheduled for a routine maintenance check in late October. All of the brakes were replaced in March, according to inspection reports.
The district suspended Ms. Toppen with pay for the rest of the week and is conducting an investigation, spokeswoman Linda Oda said. The other driver, Karen J. Ray, 52, of Loveland, was back to running bus routes Tuesday afternoon.
Such an accident is every bus driver's worst fear, said Virginia Rowe, one of Warren County's team leaders for the American Red Cross and a bus driver for Lebanon City Schools. She and her husband, Ralph, were dispatched to the accident scene as part of the Greater Cincinnati Disaster Radio Network, which alerts hospitals and emergency crews when a serious incident occurs.
The Rowes were only a small part of a well-choreographed response to the accident. At least 15 emergency and fire squads helped care for the children and control the traffic.
Reports of accident panic parents
