Indiana Accident News

Franklin-Lapel school-bus collide on icy road

Posted on Dec 18, 2008

A Franklin/Lapel school bus No. 4 collided head-on with a blue Chevrolet Corsica at the intersection of Madison County roads 500-North and 500-West at 9 a.m. Wednesday, December 17, 2008. A westbound Chevrolet driven by Keisha Lamontagne (17) slid on ice past a stop sign and into the school bus that had the right of way. The car slid along the icy 500 West road about 200 feet before spinning off the road, into a cornfield and landing on its left side leaving it heavily damaged. The condition of Lamontagne is not known at this time.

The accident caused the bus to flip on its side in a field 50 to 60 middle-school and high-school age students between seats and against glass windows and on top of one another. The bus driver David Huffman was trapped for awhile behind the steering wheel. As students were disentangling themselves, some used cell phones to call parents and help others that were injured. Joy Mitchell got a call from her shaken-up son, Josh Derrickson, an 11th-grader. "He called to say ‘our bus flipped over. I’m fine.’" Ronna Hughes received two calls from her daughter, Krista, a seventh-grader. The mother said, "The first time, she was hyper. The second time, she was crying."At least 15 parents arrived as emergency vehicles showed up.

At least 20 students were taken to Community Hospital, 20 to St. John's and 10 to Mercy Hospital in Elwood.

Frankton junior Joshua Derrickson said, "I was in the back on an inside seat, so everyone ended up on top of me." He noted that he was having pains in his legs as he waited to be put on an ambulance to be taken to the hospital.

Derrickson said that one student was bleeding badly and another student appeared to have a broken arm.

Allie Browning’s16-year-old was riding the school bus with her 13-year-old sister, Lucy. Maria Tapia, 14, who was sitting with Browning said, "Allie Browning grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me out. She told everyone to stop walking on people and to not panic."

Manuel Tapia and Aaron Wright, both 16, were among those holding open emergency doors at the rear and top of the bus.

Dale Yeary, a 13-year-old seventh-grader. "All I know is that I woke up and all I heard was screaming ... I was scared," said Yeary.

The impact of the crash knocked off loose-fitting shoes worn by some students including Yeary. Once safely outside the bus, two girls said their feet were cold, soYeary climbed through a back door into the vehicle. "I went back in to get shoes because they had all flipped off," Yeary said.

Tucker Gates, 14, called his father on a cell phone. Gates and a female friend were in separate seats but sitting on the left side of the bus, which hit the ground. The friend realized she had broken her arm.

"He said he was trying to help her. I said to keep the girl warm. There were pauses when you could tell he was doing something for her," said the boy’s father, Randy.

Cayla McDonald, 16, was thrown from one side of the bus to the other, ending in a pile of students but pulled out by Raoul Rodriguez. "He grabbed under my arms and helped lift me out," said the 10th-grader. "People were jumping over people, stepping on people to get out. Things never really settled down."

Students were transferred into another bus and examined by medical crews as parents waited outside on the road. Some accompanied their children in ambulances to three area hospitals. As ambulances became scarce, other parents used their own vehicles to drive children to hospitals and doctors.

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