MARCH 19, 2015
SALISBURY TOWNSHIP, LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Fifteen Pequea Valley students taken to the hospital after a
pickup truck struck their school bus Thursday have all been released, officials
said.
“There were a few bumps and bruises,” said John Bowden,
chief of finance and operations for the school district. “Everyone walked off
on their own.”
The school bus driver, Judy Fasnacht, 61, of Gap, suffered
minor injury and will remain in the hospital until Friday, Lancaster General
Hospital spokeswoman Frieda Schmidt said. The pickup truck driver, Elijah
Williard, 21, of Lebanon, was treated and released Thursday.
The students are high school and middle school students in
the district, so their ages are 12-18.
The 7 a.m. wreck occurred at Slaymaker Hill and Amish
roads, which is west of Route 772 in the Kinzers area of Salisbury Township.
According to state police, Williard was driving his Dodge
Ram pickup truck north on Hensel Road when he failed to stop at a stop sign at
Slaymaker Hill Road.
Williard's truck hit the school bus as it was traveling east
on Slaymaker Hill Road.
Bowden said the truck hit the driver’s side of the bus, in
the area of the front wheel.
The bus is a 72-passenger bus owned by Brightbill
Transportation, which provides transportation for the district, Bowden said.
The bus was about halfway through picking up its students
for the school day.
Police cited Williard with failing to stop at a stop sign.
Source: http://lancasteronline.com