This past Tuesday morning, one school bus out of South Carolina slammed into a student and then crashed into the front of a close-by store in the wake of failing to make a correct turn.
As stated in a report from a local outlet in North Charleston, South Carolina, the bus was assigned to North Charleston Creative Arts Elementary and still have quite a few students on board when the incident took place just prior to 8 a.m. local time.
School bus crashes into S Carolina store; 7 sent to hospital https://t.co/9lbZAOYen8 pic.twitter.com/6J9DG2067E
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 20, 2022
As reported by a group of investigators at the scene, the bus driver had been trying to make a turn from Luella Avenue onto Montague. When they failed to do so, the bus hit a 15-year-old pedestrian — who has reportedly been waiting for their own bus to a nearby high school — before slamming through the side of a local Neighbor Store.
At the time of the incident, the store was closed and no one was inside, expressed North Charleston Assistant Fire Chief Christan Rainey to the various local news outlets.
Another teen who has been present but waiting on the sidewalk was also injured when the branch of a tree broke off due to the bus. Both of the kids were officially treated for various non-life-threatening injuries at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.
To go along with the pair of students from North Charleston High School, a group of four of the eight total elementary school-aged children riding on the bus was quickly taken to an area hospital where they received treatment for minor injuries. The bus driver was reportedly transported to the hospital as well. As of writing, there has been no additional information given out by officials in regard to the driver.
Police officials are still looking into just what caused the crash, but they have been outspoken regarding their fears that any and all available video evidence just may turn out to be either unhelpful or entirely unusable.
There are cameras set up on the bus itself, but they face into the passenger compartment of the vehicle and can most likely only express what may have taken place in the back of the bus just before the crash took place. There were at least two total cameras set up on the street near the Neighbor Store, but reports seem to say that they could have been damaged or destroyed in the crash.
Crews of local fire departments were, after quite a bit of work, able to stabilize the front of the building and extract the bus by mid-afternoon.
The overall investigation is still being worked on, and authorities have not yet been able to determine whether or not any charges will be needed.
