Three Students Seriously Hurt When Truck Hits Indiana School Bus

STOCKWELL, Ind. (AP) -- A truck slammed into the rear of a school bus on Tuesday, smashing in the last two rows on its driver's side and injuring at least three children.

Tippecanoe School Corp. Superintendent Richard Wood said three James Cole Elementary students had what he called serious injuries.

The crash appeared to have happened on U.S. 52 just as the bus had finished a stop when the box truck hit it at full speed on the rural four-lane highway, said Patty Jewell, who lives across from the crash scene.

She said the crash sounded like a ``sonic boom'' and that she and her husband rushed out of their house to find the truck driver already helping children from the bus.

``I've never seen a look of terror on someone's face like that before,'' Jewell said. ``The man beat us to the school bus. ... He even helped pull my husband up into the bus to help the kids out.''

Three children sitting in the back row of the bus were trapped in the collapsed seats, with emergency workers saying one of them had serious injuries to her legs, Jewell said.

The impact of the crash forced the school bus off the side of the road and into a van and car parked in a church parking lot, she said. The box truck was stopped in the highway's median, with much of its cab crushed.

Jewell said the trucker resisted medical care for a while, but that he suffered leg and arm injuries in the crash.

Wood said the bus driver also was hurt, but did not know the extent of her injuries.

Two children were being flown by helicopter to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, but hospital spokesman Jon Mills said he had no information on their conditions.

The crash happened about 8 a.m. in southeastern Tippecanoe County some 10 miles from Lafayette.

The truck was going down a slight hill toward an intersection marked by yellow flashing lights when the crash happened, Jewell said.

``He must have just looked past the bus flashers to the yellow flashers,'' she said.

Police did not immediately release any information on the circumstances of the crash.

All four lanes of U.S. 52 were closed for hours after the crash.