Terrifying crash video shows students tossed around school bus
THORNVILLE, Ohio — Newly released video shows students on an Ohio school bus being flung around the vehicle when it tipped on its side after being hit by another car.
A Ford Mustang ran a red light and slammed into the side of the Northern Local School District bus on December 19 in Thornville, according to an accident report by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The impact spun the vehicles around, and the bus overturned on its right side and slid off the road, striking a guardrail before stopping, the report said.
The bus was taking high school students to the Mid-East Vocational School in Zanesville, which is about an hour east of Columbus.
In the video, released by the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the 30 students on the bus were sitting quietly in the seconds before the accident — some were looking at their phones while others appeared to be sleeping.
The students were jarred by the Mustang’s impact. As the bus tips over, they are violently flung out of their seats and hit the roof of the bus, and then fell on top of each other in the seats on the right side.
The bus driver can be heard shouting “is everybody OK” over the screaming kids and told them to get out through the emergency windows and doors. It took a couple of minutes for the students to untangle themselves and exit the bus, with many of the students climbing out of the escape hatch on the top of the bus.
Eight students and the 74-year-old bus driver were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The driver of the Mustang was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, including a broken back, according to the crash report. Once an investigation is completed, all information will be sent to the Perry County Prosecutor’s Office for review, the report said.
