School bus accident
MIDDLETOWN, New York — A school bus accident sent five school-aged children to the hospital with serious injuries. The accident occurred in the village of Mamakating, New York, which is about a twenty-minute drive away from Middletown. Police say that the collision between the pickup truck and mini school bus involved in the accident occurred before school around 7:45 in the morning. Police also said that the driver of a pickup truck driving behind the bus caused the crash by colliding with the rear of the school bus. The collision forced the school bus into a guardrail. According to menafn.com, the school bus then rolled on its side after colliding with the guardrail. The school bus was reportedly a minibus and not full-sized transport. Two adults also sustained injuries in the crash.
Several children rode on the minibus as they were being transported to school at a nearby Boards of Cooperative Educational Services on that particular Thursday morning. The bus passengers ranged in age from six to seventeen. The police did not say how many students were aboard the school bus at the time of the crash.
The reporting officers said that the pickup truck which initiated the crash and the school bus were traveling east of Route 17 when the pickup truck rear-ended the school bus. The contact between the two vehicles sent the school bus out of control and into the guardrail, where it flipped over onto its side.
Five students sustained varying injuries in the accident. All received emergency transportation to a nearby hospital for examination and treatment. The news reports indicated that the hospital released the children without admitting them for further treatment. Authorities said that two adults suffered injuries in the crash as well, but they did not discuss the severity of their wounds.
The investigating police officers issued a traffic citation to the pickup truck driver for following too close to another vehicle.
