Shocking video shows Ohio students thrown around after school bus crashes
Authorities in Ohio have released startling video from the inside of a school bus after it crashed into another vehicle and then overturned, causing students to be tossed around.
The crash occurred near Thornville in Perry County on Dec. 19, 2019, as a school bus from Northern Local School District was on its way to Mid East Vocational School in Zanesville, Ohio.
The bus was struck after a Ford Mustang allegedly ran a red light, authorities said. Both vehicles crashed into a guardrail and the bus flipped over onto its side, according to ABC affiliate WSYX-TV.
Video inside the bus shows the students and bus driver sitting in their seats before the bus is hit. Suddenly, everyone is thrown from their seats upside down. Children can be seen in the video flipping onto their backs and striking the ceiling of the bus as it rolls over. They can also be heard screaming for help and asking what happened.
"We were pretty lucky, honestly," Ayden Lutz, a student who says he hit the bus' ceiling during the crash, told WSYX-TV after the crash. "The whole front end of the bus was basically in pieces."
After the bus came to a halt, the students could be seen in the 57-second-long video moving around.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol released the video on Monday.
Eight students and the school bus driver were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to WSYX-TV, which said there were 25 students on the bus at the time of the accident.
"I will see that bus in my dreams for years to come. That's the worst thing I could ever see as a superintendent and as a parent. ... That's not an image I'm going to be able to remove," Thomas Perkins, superintendent for the Northern Local School District, told WSYX-TV at the time of the accident.
The driver of the car was seriously injured in the crash, according to a police report. They were also allegedly driving with a suspended license, according to WSYX-TV.
The Department of Public Safety told ABC News on Tuesday that its investigation into the crash would be forwarded to the Perry County prosecutor to review for charges. WSYX-TV reported that the prosecutor was looking into the case and getting additional information.
