MARCH 2, 2015
SAN MARCOS, TEXAS
Six students were taken by ambulance to the hospital Monday
after the school bus they were on was hit by a utility truck. Four others
students were transported to the hospital on a relief bus, which had an EMS
technician and their parents on board. City officials said the students, along
with a San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District bus driver and a bus
monitor, all suffered minor injuries.
The crash happened about 5:15 p.m. on State Highway 21 near
Bogie Drive, south of the San Marcos Municipal Airport. School district
officials say the utility truck rear-ended the San Marcos CISD bus when it
stopped to unload children.
“We thought some children were dead,” said Lydia Sanchez,
who lives nearby.
She said her house shook when the two vehicles collided. “The
kids were standing up … the three children that get off at this bus stop, they
were standing up. Thank God they did not get ejected or thrown out that
windshield.”
Her daughter is a nurse, and the two of them immediately ran
outside and started pulling kids off the bus after the crash.
There were 11 students in all from Travis Elementary School
on the bus, San Marcos CISD spokeswoman Iris Campbell said. School district
officials were also at the hospital helping families. One other student was
released to parents — not taken to the hospital.
The driver of the utility truck was taken to University
Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin with serious injuries, DPS officials
said.
SH 21 was closed in both directions for more than four hours
while authorities investigated the crash.