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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Two Crowley ISD school buses have been involved in a crash in Fort Worth.
Both buses were full of students, an estimated 70 children in total. Most of the 31 students have been taken to Texas Health Resources Southwest
Medical Center by ambulance. The rest were transported to Cook Children’s Medical Center and JPS Medical Center. Authorities say a small number of children were complaining of minor injuries like whiplash and bruises.
From Chopper 11, you could see children being loaded onto backboards. The students were 7th and 8th graders from Summer Creek Middle School. A Crowley ISD spokesperson says that action was being taken out of an abundance of caution.
“Some got jerked out of their seats, some, their lips are bleeding because they hit on the seat hard,” said Chloe Hughes, a 7th grader.
The accident occurred when one bus accidentally rear-ended the other at low speed, according to a spokesperson.
The Fort Worth Fire Department says the driver of the first bus stopped in the middle of a driving lane on Summer Creek Drive to handle a situation on the school bus. The second bus, which had crested a hill, was unable to stop. It rear-ended the bus ahead.
“I think she slammed on the breaks hard, so the other bus couldn’t stop quickly so it ran into our bus,” Hughes, who was traveling in the first bus says.
Authorities are still investigating why the driver stopped. Jason Gutierrez–a passenger on that first bus–says the driver may have been dealing with rowdy students.
“There were two people throwing paper balls,” Gutierrez says.
Parents like Amber Hughes rushed to pick up her children.
“I put my kids on the bus because I feel that they are safe,” she says.
Hughes says she’s happy with the way Crowley ISD and first responders handled the situation, but now has concerns.
“The times it has been mentioned, that to keep the kids under control, the bus driver has slammed on the breaks, [it was] kind of an ‘aha’ moment. If that’s what happened here, that is a problem in my eyes,” she says.
Both drivers also went to the hospital.
CBS 11 reached out to the bus company involved, Durham Bus Services. We are still waiting to hear back.
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