10 students taken to hospital after Durham school bus overturns

Monday, December 1, 2025
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Durham Public School bus overturned Monday afternoon.

It happened on Johnson Mill Road near Bahama. Durham Public Schools said 20 students were on the bus. Ten were taken to hospitals for observation. The driver was also taken for medical treatment.

A state trooper told ABC11 that the bus was going southbound on Johnson Mill Road when it went off the right side of the road, took a sharp turn and flipped. The back end of the bus sustained some damage.
"We are relieved to learn that our scholars are being treated for minor injuries," said DPS Superintendent Dr. Anthony Lewis. "The accident is under investigation, and our students are being released to their families."

Parents were told to gather on nearby Patrick Road to pick up their children.

Some parents who spoke with ABC11 said the children were all elementary school students from Mangum Elementary School in Bahama. One mother of a kindergartener said her daughter was OK, but she was still shaken by the incident.



"I was ultimately terrified. It's a lot scarier, you know, your child's in an accident on the bus, and you're like, OK, well, when you go, and you actually see the bus on its side, horizontal across the entire roadway, it smacks you like a brick," said Samantha Grinstead. "And then you really start getting frantic, start shaking, you start getting nervous, nauseated."

Johnson Mill Road was closed for nearly two hours. It reopened around 5:15 p.m.

The Durham County Sheriff's Office was assisting at the scene.

A state trooper told ABC11 that the bus driver was cited for failure to maintain lane control.

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