A school bus carrying about 25 students from Carroll Academy ran off U.S. 82 Wednesday afternoon, slid down a 30-foot embankment and rolled onto its side after the bus driver apparently suffered a heart attack.
A school administrator and first responders at the scene reported no serious injuries to any students on the bus, although many were taken to Greenwood Leflore Hospital for examination or treatment of cuts and bruises.
Carroll Academy Headmaster Penny Mitchell was at the scene. She said the bus driver, Jerry King of Greenwood, a longtime employee, had left the school just minutes before the accident with about 25 of the school’s 320 students in his bus after school had let out for the day.
The only bus operated by the academy was on its way to the parking lot of the Sav-A-Lot store on Park Avenue in Greenwood, where children are dropped off.
The bus ended up at the bottom of the embankment just a hundred yards east of County Road 316 on the north side of U.S. 82.
Mitchell said King was airlifted to the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo for care.
Mitchell said King was conscious when she came to the crash scene and saw him being taken from the bus. She said she was unable to talk with him as he was being tended to by paramedics.
“The Good Lord blessed us. The students have some bumps and bruises and some trauma but I can handle that, I’m just thankful the children are okay. The Good Lord blessed us, He really did.”
She said King has worked with the Academy for years as a driver. “He’s a good man,” she said Shortly after the crash, the scene became crowded with people from the school, then with parents looking for their children. Many rushed their kids into cars to transport them to the hospital for examination.
The school established a gathering point for children and parents in front of Providence Church, on Old Greenwood Road, a couple hundred yards from where the bus lay.
Nine-year-old Colton Pruett, a third-grader from Holcomb, walked with his mother along the muddy road from the church. He said he had been on the bus with his friend Lionel but that he and Lionel were fine.
“First the back end of the bus went off the road, then it came back on,” Colton said. “Then Mr. King had a heart attack and the bus fell off the road and just ran down here. Everybody was screaming.
“The back door flew open, but I didn’t see it, so I just got out the door behind Lionel and then had to climb up the hill to the road.”
Asked if he was scared by the crash, Colton said, “I was terrified.”
After the driver and children had been cleared from the scene, men scrambled down the embankment and tried to use heavy cables to right the bus and pull it back up to the roadway. U.S. 82 had been reduced to one lane westbound while crews worked the scene.
The Greenwood Leflore Hospital emergency room was crowded with parents, hospital workers and others about two hours after the crash. A hospital worker said about 17 children had been brought in and were being seen by doctors and nurses.
Mississippi state troopers are investigating the crash but were unavailable Wednesday evening.
LaKeadra Coffey contributed to this story
