MEMPHIS, Tenn.– Memphis Police are investigating a school bus crash in South Memphis Thursday morning.
WREG was there moments after a Durham school bus slammed into a pole and building with students on board at Florida near Mallory.
Thursday night the pole the driver ran into has now been replaced.
Thankfully no one was seriously hurt but family members of a student on board want answers.
“She was on her phone, then she ran into the pole real hard.”
That’s what 13-year-old Hattie Johnson said happened on her bus ride to Riverview Elementary Thursday morning.
”My head hit the window,” she said.
When her family heard about the crash they feared the worst.
“I thank God she alive,” said her grandmother.
“We trusting our kids with anybody and everybody and when we send them to school we want them to come home the way they left,” said her aunt, Rochelle Phillips.
Phillips said she’s especially concerned when she hears the bus company for Shelby County Schools is the same that was involved in the horrific crash in Chattanooga, that left six children dead. They called for background checks for drivers on buses as well as seat belts.
”Change, big change, a lot of changes,” said Phillips.
On Thursday Durham told WREG drivers go through multiple background checks, before they are hired, including through third parties and through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
They also said since the crash in Chatanooga they are developing a nation-wide data base for complaints from schools, they’re installing cameras on buses to alert them of unusual driving and they’re appointing a Chief of Safety and Compliance officer.
Durham said they cannot comment on today’s crash. We reached out to Shelby County schools but did not hear back.
