Sixteen students, driver injured after school bus flipped over in northeast Harris County
HARRIS COUNTY (KTRK) -- Sixteen students and the driver were transported to a nearby hospital after a Crosby ISD school bus flipped over in northeast Harris County. All students and the driver were released from the hospital late Friday.
Harris County officials say nearly 50 students were trapped inside the bus when emergency officials responded to the scene on FM 1942 at Bohemian Hall Road. Officials tell Eyewitness News that it appears the bus swerved off the road to avoid a stalled vehicle in the road.
Crosby ISD superintendent Keith Moore says all buses are equipped with cameras. Bus 213 did not have seat belts.
Witness Damon Martin says when the bus driver tried to avoid hitting a truck, the bus veered off the road.
"When I saw everything happen, I dropped everything and ran over there," Martin said. "We took down the back door and we were using the back door to go inside and get everybody out to make sure they were safely put away from the scene."
Martin says the students were "pretty frantic."
"They (the students) were pretty frantic. Some of them, it's probably some of the worse stuff that has ever happened to them," Martin said. "I mean, it's pretty scary getting in a school bus, not having seat belts, you know the bus turned over on its side, windows breaking. You know it's in a ditch that is filled with water."
The driver of the truck claims the bus driver swerved to avoid hitting him as he turned left.
"She was coming up from behind real quick," he said. "She was probably going too fast, she couldn't brake, couldn't stop, swerved and that's how they ended up in the ditch."
He says he thought the school bus was going to hit him.
Moore says the district will review video footage and work with law enforcement to see why the accident happened.
