Blown tire possible cause as 35 are hurt in bus accident, including 30 Waggener High students
Thirty Waggener High School students and five others were injured Tuesday afternoon when the bus they were riding in veered out of control on Interstate 64, crossed two lanes of traffic and slammed into a concrete barrier.
The stunning crash was captured by the dashboard camera of a truck driver traveling behind the bus, showing it suddenly swerving across two lanes and laying down black skid marks before hitting the barrier and skidding to a stop. Thick smoke can be seen billowing around it as someone shouts: “We need an ambulance! We need an ambulance!”
The same video shows a car traveling east on I-64 spinning out of control and into the barrier just moments after the bus crashes.
Kristen Miller, chief of staff for Louisville Metro EMS, said there were reports that a blown tire caused the bus crash. Police are looking into possible mechanical failure as a cause, which could include the tire trouble, Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said.
Smiley said late Tuesday that the cause was still under investigation.
The bus driver was among 34 passengers taken to five area hospitals, officials said. A juvenile in the eastbound car also was hospitalized. No names were released.
A number of the most seriously injured had broken bones but were in stable condition, according to Glen Franklin, a trauma surgeon at University Hospital.
The bus was one of two carrying 73 incoming Waggener juniors and seniors who had traveled to Eastern Kentucky University as part of a grant-funded field trip to visit potential colleges, the Jefferson County Public Schools district said.
“I am deeply saddened that a journey designed to expose our students to the college experience has ended in an accident,” Superintendent Donna Hargens said in a statement. “I am deeply concerned for the welfare of those students.”
The charter bus belongs to Commonwealth Bus Service & Transportation Inc., but no one from the company could be reached for comment. Records show no recent safety issues with the company.
Fourteen of the injured were taken to Kosair Children’s Hospital in a Louisville Metro EMS “mass casualty bus,” but Miller said they had minor injuries. Of the others injured, nine were admitted at University, two were taken to Baptist Health Hospital, eight to Norton Brownsboro Hospital, and two to Norton Suburban Hospital.
“You don’t want to flood any one hospital,” Miller said.
Ambulances from Metro EMS, Shelby County EMS and Yellow Ambulance transported the injured.
Jonathan Johnston, director of media ministries at Walnut Street Baptist Church, said he went to Kosair to accompany a family active in the church whose son, Dieudone Irakoze, was among the injured.
The family, which has roots in Burundi and came to the United States several years ago as refugees, is relieved the injuries are not serious.
Johnston said Dieudone, who just completed his junior year, plays soccer at Waggener and is scheduled to participate in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program later this summer. He complained of neck pain and was in a brace as a precaution.
Parents at first didn’t know if their children were among those on the bus when it crashed at 2:37 p.m.
Perrie Allen of St. Matthews said about 3:30 p.m. that her 15-year-old daughter, Shiane Spady, was on one of two buses returning from EKU, but she didn’t know which one.
She said she learned of the wreck when she went to the school to pick her up at the scheduled 3 p.m. time, and she didn’t know at first if she had been on the bus in the crash. “I went to pick her up and saw people standing around,” said Allen, who lives near the school.
Shiane said later that she was on the other bus when they heard the accident behind them.
“It was just this really loud crash and everyone on my bus was freaking out,” she said. “At first I didn’t know what had happened … and then after I figured it out, I was freaking out a little, too.”
Shiane had been on the other bus during the morning ride but switched in the afternoon “because I saw my friends getting on the different bus and I wanted to be with them,” she said.
Allen said the students were also visiting Lindsey Wilson College, Spalding University and the University of Kentucky this week.
Students who were not involved in the crash eventually were taken to Waggener, where family members arriving at the school were ushered inside and did not speak to the media. Officials at the school would not comment.
School board member David Jones Jr. said he spoke with Waggener Principal Katy Zeitz and she was “all over this” and would be there for her students and their families. Zeitz later attended a news conference at University Hospital.