FAIRFIELD, Ohio - A crash involving three school buses sent 12 students and a bus driver to hospitals with minor injuries Thursday afternoon, according to Fairfield fire and police officials.
The injured students from Fairfield City Freshman School and Middle School were complaining of neck pain, officials said. The driver was taken off on a stretcher.
Erin Janes, whose daughter was on one of the buses, said she described the impact of the crash.
“She said that the emergency glass blew out of the back window of the bus she was on. Her bus driver’s head slammed into the steering wheel," Janes said.
The chain-reaction crash happened on Williamsburg Way near Winton Road when a Fairfield City School bus stopped suddenly and two others could not stop in time to avoid a rear-end collision. No reason has been given for the bus's sudden stop.
Police said they don't think excess speed was a factor, but the cause is still under investigation. All three buses were towed from the scene.
Some 120 students were on the three buses. The buses have high-back seats designed to limit neck and back injuries in a collision. The Fairfield fire department did a complete assessment of each student before releasing them.
Parents of students on the buses were called by school personnel, the school district said in a release. Buses were on standby to take students home once they were cleared to leave.
