Early this morning a JB Hunt owned truck slammed into the back of a school bus. The crash happened around 7:30 a.m. on a straight, clear stretch of U.S. 190 between Port Barre and Opelousas, about 50 miles west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The school bus reportedly had it flashers on and stop signs extended at the time of the wreck. The bus driver apparently saw the truck bearing down on the bus and warned the kids to hold on in anticipation of the collision.
The impact to the back bumper of the bus was sufficient to push up to the rear wheels of the bus. For some reason, the truck driver has yet to be cited, although it seems clear that he was driving too fast and failed to keep a proper distance and lookout.
As someone who has litigated tractor-trailer cases, it is very important to preserve as much evidence as possible and to do so quickly. The driving logs of the truck driver need to be examined as well as his cell phone and texting records. Also, data from all event recorders on the truck need to be downloaded immediately, to avoid any loss of data.
Thankfully, emergency workers arrived quickly and efficiently dispatched injured kids to area hospitals where they received timely treatment. All 21 kids were injured, 3 originally classified as critical and two underwent emergency surgery. Let's all hope for complete recoveries for the kids and that JB Hunt and the driver take appropriate responsibility for the wreck.
One of the kids, a 5 year old little girl died 3 days after the accident.
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