8 students injured in school bus crash in Johnston County
SMITHFIELD, N.C. (WTVD) -- There was a school bus accident Monday morning in Johnston County.
It happened on Stevens Chapel Road in Smithfield around 8 a.m.
Eight students were injured. Six were taken to a hospital in Smithfield, while two were taken to one in Wake County. ABC11 is told the most serious injury was a femur fracture.
The parents of uninjured students were notified and allowed to sign waivers for no treatment before taking them home for the day.
The bus driver, Karen Alice Hauver, ran off the road and then overcorrected across the center line and hit a mailbox and tree according to the sheriffs office.
The bus then went across the road where it landed on a street sign and finally came to a stop. The driver has been charged with a left of center violation.
Students from 5-11 years old were on their way to Princeton Elementary School when the crash happened. 22 students were onboard.
Impairment, speed or drugs were not a factor in the crash.
The Johnston County School System is doing an independent investigation.
This is the second serious school bus crash in as many school days for Johnston County students.
On Friday, a speeding driver crashed into a school bus near the intersection of Crocker Lane and Webb Mill Road in the Four Oaks Community, which is about five miles south of Smithfield.
The force of the crash pushed the school bus off the road and into someone's front yard. Fourteen students and a driver were on board the bus when it crashed. Eight students were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Surveillance video captured the bus veering off the road and coming to a stop in the front yard. It also captured the suspected speeding driver running away from the crash.
The driver, Trevor Elijah Jordan Grice, 30, was later arrested and charged with felony hit and run and more.
