SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — A school bus carrying about 40 Bolton High School students crashed on Austin Peay, north of Old Brownsville Road, at about 3 p.m. Monday.
The driver and ten students were taken to the hospital. All are expected to be OK. Several other students were treated at the scene.
The bus crossed the center line and side-swiped a commercial truck carrying construction equipment that was traveling in the opposite direction.
“That is the worst experience of my life. I thought I was going to die,” ninth-grader Fatou Sow said.
The bus’s windows shattered, according to students and police. The glass cut several students, some of whom even found glass in their hair.
“We were in the back; we were all talking and laughing. Next thing I know, the bus just flew off the road. And everybody was just going from side to side. I saw people just hitting their heads, bleeding. Then I looked to the front of the bus, and that whole…the side of that was completely gone,” Sow said.
“This girl that was sitting next to me, she thought that the bus was going to blow up, so she threw the back door open, and we all jumped out,” she added.
Students tell us the bus driver was unconscious.
“She’s really nice, so I hope she’s OK,” Sow said.
“I tried to run back on the bus to get our belongings, but they’re afraid for us to see the other bus driver. One of the students actually went back to get her,” she added.
The driver, who could face charges, was taken to Regional Medical Center. As of 9 p.m., her condition was listed as “fair.”
Shelby County Schools reports the bus route number is NG093.
Four other buses carrying Bolton High School students were stuck in the resulting traffic jam, so SCS warned parents students on board may be late getting home. Students on nearby buses got out to try to help their classmates injured in the crash.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol, which is investigating the crash, confirmed the driver crossed the line.
SCS said in a statement released just before 5 p.m., “We appreciate the assistance of the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Shelby County Sheriff’s Department and Fire Department for assisting with this accident and helping make sure other buses on this route were able to get students home safely.”