No children on PRIDE Headstart bus involved in 3-car crash

For the second time in less than a week, a local school bus has been involved in a crash.

The crash, which happened this morning after 9 a.m., and involved two other vehicles, occurred on the Logan Boulevard between the State Police Bridge and the intersection of State Route 73 and State Route 44.

There were no children on the PRIDE Headstart bus when the crash happened, according to Logan City Patrolman David Adkins, who is the investigating officer in the incident.

The crash involved a white Toyota Corolla driven by a male juvenile and a gold Chevy Trailblazer, driven by an unidentified female, and the PRIDE Headstart bus, driven by an unidentified female. All three were traveling east on the Logan Boulevard.

“(The driver of the Toyota Corolla) was traveling east in the left lane and he fell asleep and went up onto the median,” Adkins said. “He said it woke him up and he tried to get it back under control and he cut it over. He turned into the lane where a Chevy Trailblazer was traveling and he was going sideways and they struck him in the rear and when it slowed it down, the bus hit the Blazer in the rear. There were no kids on the bus and everyone involved signed refusals for the ambulances.”

Adkins said the incident was tough to assess, because the driver who initiated the crash hit someone and in turn was hit by the bus.

He said the driver of the Toyota would be cited for failure to maintain control of vehicle. He said he isn’t sure if the bus driver would be cited for reckless driving.

“It’s kind of a difficult accident,” Adkins said. “He was struck in the rear, but, he fell asleep and came over into their lane. I’ll more than likely have to cite him for failure to maintain control. Most of the time when you have someone who struck another vehicle in the rear, it’s their fault. But, in this situation, it’s going to be a little different and I’m going to have to take a closer look at it to determine if the bus driver was reckless in her driving.”

Adkins didn’t have all the names of the drivers nor the passengers in the Toyota and the bus when The Logan Banner interviewed him.

On Tuesday morning, a Logan County Schools bus headed for East Chapmanville Grade School side-swiped oncoming truck while traveling on Stone Branch Road near the Logan Country Club. There were 15 children on the bus, but none were injured, just late for class, according to Logan County Schools Assistant Superintendent Ernest “Junior” Amburgey.