“I was just so scared,” Parents and students speak out after terrifying school bus crash
LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WIS) - WIS spoke to a student that was injured while riding on bus 210 when a tanker truck crashed into it and from the parents of some students.
The crash happened on Thursday evening in Gilbert.
A video sent to WIS from a viewer shows the moments before a tanker made an impact with the school bus, crushing into its side and nearly folding the bus in half.
Parents say their kids are okay.
Some of them were back at the hospital on Friday for X-rays.
Many parents are concerned with the lack of precaution the bus driver took before turning onto Pond Branch Road.
“Kids had blood on their faces. One girl said she couldn’t feel her legs,” said eighth grader Hunter Redborn.
Gilbert Middle School eighth-grader Hunter Redborn who was on the bus at the time of the crash gave a chilling aftermath description.
“Everyone was panicking but I was just trying to get everybody off the bus,” said Redborn.
“I think Hunter is a hero. I really do because he helped all those kids off the bus. He’s a good boy,” said Stephanie Farmer, Hunter’s mother.
Farmer says she got a call that her son was in an accident.
“I was just so scared,” said Farmer. “I just wanted to make sure my son was okay and all the other kids too but I was just upset,” she added.
Forty-three kids from both Gilbert High School and Gilbert Middle School were on the bus when the tanker crashed into it.
A viewer sent a video showing the skid marks left in the road from when the tank driver slammed on his brakes trying to stop from hitting the school bus.
“I actually heard it. It was a loud boom,” said Fannie Witt.
Witt said her 12-year-old grandson DeMarcus was on the bus. She lives in the neighborhood just a few feet away from the scene.
Witt says, “I put some shoes on and went running down there and when I got there they had already taken him off the bus.”
She says DeMarcus has a bruised rib and a broken finger.
“He kept saying his rib was hurting and his head was hurting really badly. And he was crying. He said he doesn’t never want to ride a school bus again,” said Witt.
South Carolina Highway Patrol says the investigation could take up to a week and criminal charges are possible, but none have been filed yet. Some parents are also saying they plan to file a lawsuit.
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Source: WIS News 10
