San Angelo ISD School Bus Hit in Crash: "All I heard was just a big boom"

A San Angelo ISD school bus loaded full of children was hit broadside by a woman driving a Chevrolet Impala just after 7 a.m. at the intersection of 39^th St and N. Chadbourne St.

Kids were everywhere as the bus driver and arriving police sequestered them to conduct crash investigation interviews. Two more school buses have arrived to gather the children once police have concluded their interviews.

According to a witness on the scene, the black Impala was facing east on 39^th where there is just a stop sign and ran into the northbound bus on Chadbourne. The pictures reveal the damage. “All I heard was just a big boom,” a witness at the scene said. One child was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. According to witnesses, the child was sitting in the window seat near the point of impact and was complaining of shoulder or arm pain.

Police arrested the driver of the Impala, which had New Mexico plates, for outstanding warrants.

This was the second school bus crash this morning. Earlier there was a collision between a bus and a Jeep at Houston Harte Expressway and Magdalen.

Update 10:15 a.m. (Final)

Capt. James Corbett of the San Angelo Fire Department said that the driver of the Chevy Impala ran the stop sign at 39^th and Chadbourne and collided with the side of the school bus. The bus driver was able to control his bus and come to a safe stop. The bus was transporting 44 students to Lincoln Middle School.

As a result of the crash, four students were transported to Shannon Medical

Center with minor injuries. A fifth student was picked up on campus shortly after the student arrived there. All of the students complained of head or neck pain, Corbett said.

About a dozen kids were turned over to parents at the crash scene, the rest were loaded on a second bus to finish the trip to campus. The crash happened at 7:54 a.m.

San Angelo ISD Superintendent Carol Ann Bonds issued a statement: "Two of our buses were hit this morning by drivers in vehicles. A driver who had been parked at the Central Freshman Campus clipped the rear bumper of a bus when driving away.  Another bus, which was headed to Lincoln Middle School, was hit by a driver who ran a stop sign.  We are blessed to have had no life-threatening injuries."