Driver of car injured in collision with school bus; children safe
By Bill Lawson / Staff Writer / blawson@maumellemoinitor.com
Friday, November 6, 2009 11:19 AM CST
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| Blue Hill Wrecker employees clean up the mess left on Edgewood Drive when a mini-school bus and a small car collided Thursday afternoon. (Bill Lawson) |
No children were seriously injured in a head-on collision between a day-care school bus and a vehicle shortly after 3 p.m. on Oct. 29 on Edgewood Drive in Maumelle. However, the driver of the small vehicle that police said crossed the center line and struck the southbound small minibus was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
The bus, driven by Ivey Sanders, 34, of Conway from Little Scholars Academy in Maumelle had just picked up 18 youngsters from Pine Forest Elementary School to drive them to the day care until their parents returned home from work. Maumelle Fire and Rescue and Metropolitan Emergency Medical Service employees treated five of the youngsters for minor injuries and for shock on the scene.
The driver of the 2004 Hyundai Sonata, Thomas M. Redding, 55, of 7 Oak Forest Place, was taken to Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock by MEMS ambulance.
Parents arrived on the scene after they were notified, obviously alarmed about their children. Many of the children who had been quiet burst into tears as they saw the look of fear in their parents eyes.
Maumelle detective Eli Keller took the driver of the school bus to police headquarters for a drug screen as state law requires. Police chief Sam Williams said the accident is still under investigation however it appeared the car driver lost control during a downpour and ran into the bus. He said none of the children were taken to the hospital by ambulance.
The young children were obviously traumatized by the accident but firefighters tried to cheer them up after they checked them out with a ride in a fire engine.
By press time, Williams said that the Baptist Medical Center had received the subpoena for the blood tests of the vehicle driver but so far they haven’t provided the reports.
Sanders told police her back was hurting but she declined medical treatment suggesting they treat the children first. She said she was southbound on Edgewood Drive approaching the intersection of Lakepointe Drive. She said “The vehicle was swerving into her lane and she moved to the right to try and avoid a collision.”
Sanders said, She “moved as far to the right as possible, but the other vehicle moved all the way into her lane and struck” her bus.
