Seven students suffered minor injuries when a Waco ISD bus crashed through a median today after the driver says his brakes failed.
That bus, with 21 students on board, was headed to G.W. Carver Middle School about 8 a.m. when it happened. It was going north on 19th street and was trying to turn onto Lake Shore Drive when the driver could not stop. He cut across a median, hitting a curb and flattening two tires before coming to a stop in the River Bend Shopping Center parking lot.
Three students with minor injuries were taken by paramedics to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest as a precaution. Four others were taken to the hospital by their parents to be checked.
Waco ISD Asst. Superintendent Rick Hartley said protocol is the driver will submit to a drug test, but Waco police sergeant Patrick Swanton indicated there did not seem to be anything out of the ordinary with that driver.
David Gray, with GoldStar Transit, the school districts contractor for transportation, said that bus was taken out of circulation for a maintenance review, and their entire fleet of 83 buses was checked for any possible brake problem today. Every vehicle passed.
The company will now review that bus that crashed today, as well as the driver as part of standard operating procedure after an accident to ensure student's safety.
Gray said that driver, whose name was not released, has been a commercial driver for more than a dozen years.
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