A school bus carrying students from Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology school was involved in an accident that sent first responders rushing to the scene, where they found the students shaken up. After evaluation on the scene, the students were transported to local area hospitals for treatment and evaluation.
The accident occurred on Wednesday afternoon on Route 222 in Richmond Township in Pennsylvania, near Kutztown. The students had been on a field trip to the Crayola crayon factory in Easton and were returning back to the school when their bus driver drove into the back of a vehicle that had slowed down at the intersection of Kutztown Road and Kempsville Road in order to merge into traffic.
According to Fleetwood Police Chief Steven Stinsky, when they arrived on the scene the first order of business was to ensure that the students were safe. “The most important thing for us was A, to make sure that all the students or anybody involved in the crash got the appropriate medical care and the second thing is to make sure that another accident does not happen. We always have a lot of traffic accidents here. That is why we conduct a lot of aggressive driving enforcement details in this area to help try to slow the traffic down.”
Ambulances and firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after the accident took place, and traffic quickly back up for more than a mile as they evaluated the students. Ten were taken by ambulance to area hospitals and the remaining students were taken by bus to Reading Area Hospital. Firefighters needed to pry the bus ‘s wheel away from its bumper in order to enable both the bus and the vehicle that it hit to be removed from the scene. According to Virginville Fire Lieutenant John Lubas, “We are always cutting vehicles apart up at our station. So the guys have a pretty good idea what they are doing, especially when it involves the kids. They come in and get them out right away.”
Investigators are examining the scene and taking statements from witnesses, and pending the results of their findings, charges may be pressed.