WASHINGTON —
A coal truck sideswiped a Washington school bus on SR 57 Tuesday, sending 12 to the hospital.
Ten children and the driver of the semi, Alecia Sedam, 35, Jasper, and the school bus driver, Barbara White-Riker, 56, Washington, were taken to Daviess Community Hospital with minor injuries.
By 6 p.m. Tuesday, all but one of the children had been released from the hospital’s emergency room, where a girl was still under evaluation, according to sources close to the accident.
According to reports at the scene, Washington Community Schools bus No.
7, driven by White-Riker, was heading south at 3:47 p.m. and attempting to stop and let children off on SR 57, just south of CR 450S.
“The bus flipped on its caution lights preparing to stop,” Washington Schools Assistant Superintendent Gary Puckett said, “and the northbound semi locked up and lost control.”
Sedam said the vehicle in front of her began to stop for the school bus and when the semi’s brakes locked the semi sideswiped the bus, jackknifed and came to rest facing south, blocking all three lanes of the road.
Joseph Cambron, 41, Vincennes, was driving a van registered to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture behind the school bus when the accident occurred and had to swerve to miss the semi, going off the road into a ditch. He was not injured.
There were 15 to 20 students on the bus, according to Puckett. After the accident was called in, school officials, volunteer firefighters, Daviess County Sheriff’s deputies and Southwest Medical EMTs rushed to the scene. The county’s emergency management plan was also enacted.
“The EMTs assured us that nothing was life threatening,” Puckett said.
As word of the accident spread around Washington, parents also raced to the scene. Text messages and phone calls were sent out to all parents of Washington School students via the school’s notification system.
“Some parents were here and we verified who they were,” Puckett said.
“The remaining students were taken to Veale, where their parents would pick them up.”
By 4:20 p.m., school officials said all students had been picked up at Veale by their parents.
Walters-Sedam, who drove the truck for KF Trucking, complained of minor shoulder pain and was taken to DCH, according to one of the owners of the truck.
A representative for Buchta Trucking, who contracts the truck for coal hauling, was also on the scene.
School officials, police and emergency responders all said the accident could have been a lot worse.
Brenda Hurt, aunt of fourth-grader Will Pride and on staff at Lena Dunn Elementary, was waiting in the DCH parking lot for Will to arrive with his dad, Troy.
Will was not injured, but his parents wanted him checked out just to be on the safe side.
“He was transported back to (Veale Elementary) school, but he’s coming here just to be sure,” Hurt said. “His mom’s an ER nurse. His dad picked him up and is supposed to be bringing him this way.”
Will’s mother, Cheryl Pride, was working when the victims were taken to the ER.
The fourth-grader was on his way to his grandmother’s house on CR 550S.
Hurt said Veale staff was called in to help at the school, and some staff members were at the hospital with the children.
She said most parents had been contacted, but at least one child’s parents could not be reached at about 4 p.m.
Hospital spokesperson Mary Smith said there were no critical injuries and no one had to be transported by helicopter to other hospitals.
Staff Writer Andrea McCann and News Editor Patricia Morrison contributed to this report.
Local News
Coal truck sideswipes Washington schools bus; 12 injured
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