Driver Charged in Fiery School Bus Crash In Sandy Springs
The bus was one of two carrying students to Ridgeview Middle School when it was rear-ended by a passenger vehicle Thursday morning.
By Kristal Dixon (Patch Staff) - March 30, 2017 4:04 pm ET
SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- The driver of a passenger vehicle has been cited in a fiery school bus crash Thursday morning in Sandy Springs.
The bus was one of two carrying students to Ridgeview Middle School when it was rear-ended on Roswell Road at Glenridge Drive, said system spokeswoman Susan Hale.
Capt. Mike Lindstrom with the Sandy Springs Police Department said the agency received the call around 8:14 a.m. March 30 of the collision on the southbound side of Roswell Road just north of Glenridge Drive.
The two school buses were stopped at the traffic signal when the driver of a blue Kia Forte "just slammed into them," the captain said.
The vehicle skimmed the first bus, but ran into and got lodged underneath the second bus, he added.
The first bus had 34 students on it while the second bus, which caught fire, 24 students. Nineteen middle school students suffered minor injuries and were transported to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital for treatment, Lindstrom said.
Hale said students were evacuated from the buses, and another bus was dispatched to pick up the students to take them to school.
“All of the other students either went home with their parents who arrived on the scene or went to school," Lindstrom told Patch.
The driver of the passenger vehicle, who was cited for failure to maintain lane, was transported to an area hospital for treatment.
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A driver faces charges after causing a fiery school bus crash that injured 19 students Thursday morning on Roswell Road, Sandy Springs police said.
Those students walked away with only bumps and bruises in the accident just after 8 a.m., but the crash investigation shut down Roswell Road for about three hours, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
The road reopened just before 11 a.m.
Sandy Springs police Capt. Mike Lindstrom talks about fiery school bus crash on Roswell Road. Video by John Spink/AJC
Two southbound Fulton County school buses were stopped in the same lane north of Glenridge Road. One of the buses involved was a Ridgeview Middle School bus, Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale said.
A car also heading south on Roswell Road slammed into the back corner of one of the buses and went under the other bus, Sandy Springs police Capt. Mike Lindstrom said.
“When the vehicle went underneath the second bus, it caught on fire, which caused the Fulton County school bus to also catch on fire,” Lindstrom said.
The car’s driver, who faces failure to maintain lane charges, sustained back and neck injuries.
The bus drivers weren’t injured.
The 19 students who were injured were taken to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital.
Most of the other children were taken back to Ridgeview Middle on another bus, but parents picked up four of the students.
It’s unclear what caused the car’s driver to crash into the buses.