Investigators plan to review camera footage taken from the bus involved in this accident. They say there were two cameras on the bus -- one in the front and one in the back. They are hoping the video will help them figure out what went wrong.
"He had to hit hard for me to feel it in the back of our house," said one witness.
"I was sleeping and I heard this banging noise," said Jerry Gueldner, the grandmother of the students on board. "It sounded like a dump truck."
At 5:55am it was still dark outside when deputies tell us the school bus made its first stop of the morning. Seconds after three high school teens got on board, the driver of a Honda slammed straight into the rear of the bus, wedging his car almost completely underneath.
"I just feel bad for his family, because he was probably just going to work and doing his thing like everybody else does every morning," said nearby resident Karl Petry.
Deputies tell us at the time of the collision the school bus driver had the red lights on the bus flashing and they say there are no signs the driver of the car slowed down.
"From looking at the damage to the vehicle and how far it went under the bus, I would estimate somewhere at least in the 45 to 55 mile an hour range," said Harris County Sheriff's Deputy David Pearson. "We'll determine the speed during our investigation later."
Gueldner says the teens were shaken up when they came walking back to the house. Her daughter witnessed the wreck as she was walking away from the bus.
Karl and Jenny Petry say they are not surprised about this accident. Wrecks happened often on this stretch of road, they say.
"It's deadly, very deadly. This intersection down here they finally put the light up and I think it has helped some," Karl said. "But it's just one wreck after another, after another, after another."
The deceased driver is said to be 25 to 35 years old. His identity will be released once he is positively identified by the medical examiner. Deputies did check his cell phone records and they say the driver was not on his phone at the time of the accident.
