A school bus accident sent several students to the hospital for treatment. The wreck happened on garners ferry road near benson drive around 3:00 o'clock. State troopers say the bus was stopped when a Chevy Tahoe slammed into its rear end. 42 students were on board. Emergency crews took nine of them to the hospital along with the bus and SUV driver. Investigators say everyone involved is in good condition. Highway patrol says Meocia Coleman was driving the SUV. She's charged with driving too fast for conditions.
A loud boom and twisted metal are the first things Berthina Short remembers. But the sounds that came just seconds later friday afternoon will haunt her forever.
"Oh, they was crying," says Short. "It was rough."
A scary sight played out in front of Short, a school bus filled with scared, injured Mill Creek elementary students, and a screaming woman tangled in her white Chevy Tahoe.
"She was mashed up on the steering wheel," says Short. "She was begging for us to help her get out. We couldn't do nothing."
Witnesses say the suv slammed into the back of the stopped school bus as kids were about to get off. An ambulance arrived less than five minutes later just outside the Deer Meadow Village Apartments. But Short's attention was still on the school bus.
"Ambulance pulled up. Everybody went to the truck, but I was trying to tell them, some kids on the bus hurt," says Short.
Despite this frightening scene, EMS officials say everyone invovled in the crash is in good condition.
"All you could do was pray," says Short.
The scene is clear now but the memory will stay with berthina short for a lifetime.