27 injuries...Long Island Bus (Orion V 1664) & School Bus COLLIDE in Cedarhusrt {photos & video}
Posted by
Gold_12TH
on Wed Oct 12 22:18:27 2011
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About 30 people were injured Wednesday morning after an MTA bus crashed into a school bus occupied by Lawrence School District students, according to fire officials.
At 8:59 a.m., the two buses crashed at Central Avenue and McGlynn Place in Cedarhurst, said Second Deputy Chief Anthony Rivelli. Twenty-seven of the 30 injured had to be transported to area hospitals, while three people refused transport, he said. The driver of the MTA bus suffered a fractured leg, according to Rivelli.
None of the injuries appeared life threatening.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz confirmed that the MTA bus broadsided the school bus, but said the cause of the accident was under investigation, according to Newsday.
Witnesses told ABC Eyewitness News that the MTA bus ran a stop sign.
A second school bus arrived at the scene and transported 14 children along with LCFD medics as well as school personnel to Nassau University Medical Center “as a precaution,” according to Rivelli.
MTA officials, as well as Fourth Precinct officers, are investigating the cause of the crash.
Fifteen LCFD firefighters and EMT's responded to the accident with three trucks and an ambulance under the direction of Rivelli. The Inwood, Woodmere, Hewlett, East Rockaway, Valley Stream and Lynbrook Fire Departments were called in for aid as well. Nassau County Police and the Atlantic Beach Rescue Squad also provided ambulances at the scene.
--- http://fivetowns.patch.com/articles/mta-bus-and-school-bus-collide-in-cedarhurst#photo-8092943
A bus carrying preschoolers was broadsided by an MTA bus early Wednesday in Cedarhurst , leaving more than two dozen passengers with minor injuries, officials said.
Fourteen of those injured were children, officials said.
A Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department spokesman said 27 people were treated. The MTA confirmed 12 passengers on its bus and the driver were injured.
Lawrence school district Superintendent Gary B. Schall said the children were taken to the hospital as a precaution but were released.
"Thank God no one was hurt," he said. "Everybody was fine."
The crash was at the intersection of Central and Locust avenues, which is controlled by a stop sign, officials said. The MTA bus, the N31/N32, was northbound on Central, while the school bus was westbound on Locust.
The school bus was operated by Independent Bus Corp. and was serving the district's Number 4 School on Wanser Avenue in Inwood , according to the parent of a child aboard the bus. The Inwood bus company did not return a call seeking comment.
Schall identified the driver as Joseph Pannell.
An MTA spokesman, Kevin Ortiz, confirmed the MTA bus struck the school bus broadside -- but told Newsday the cause of the accident was under investigation and said it had not been determined which vehicle had the right of way.
Carrie LaRocco, 40, of Cedarhurst, told Newsday that her daughter Jayla Jones, 4, who was on the school bus, suffered a cut under her left eye.
"She's got a boo-boo on her face," LaRocco said, holding her daughter after she was released from the hospital.
When asked how she was, Jayla replied: "Good."
"She was crying," her mother said. "She was scared."
But, LaRocco said, "We had M&Ms already. We feel better."
People in the back of the MTA bus were thrown about by the force of the collision, said passenger Chris Lewis , 26, of Far Rockaway .
