A bus carrying the Sweet Home High School freshman baseball team and a milk tanker collided approximately three miles south of Monmouth on Highway 99W Wednesday about 3:10 p.m. injuring several, including the bus driver and a coach.
All of the students were home by about 6:40 p.m., but the driver, Adeline Hight, 54, and a coach, Tim O’Donnell, remained at hospitals for evaluation, SHHS Principal Pat Stineff said.
The team had been traveling to Central High School for a game.
Ms. Hight was diagnosed with a broken wrist and some bruises.
Coach O’Donnell and two students were reportedly transported to Salem Hospitals. Hight was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis.
Coach O’Donnell was diagnosed with a cracked rib and torn muscles.
The driver of the semi was Hugh W. Reeves, 43, of Salem. The tractor trailer was owned by Moo Lines of Stayton.
The remaining students were transported by the Central School District to Central High School. Most of the students were picked up by their parents. A few returned to Sweet Home on a smaller school bus sent by the district.
Coach Darren Perry and 12 of the 14 student-athletes were uninjured in the accident.
According to the Oregon State Police, the truck was towing an empty tanker trailer and braked hard before the crash. It skidded across the center line and struck the left section of the school bus. After impact, the truck and trailer jackknifed and came to rest on the southbound shoulder and traffic lane. The bus skidded to a stop on the northbound shoulder. Both vehicles were heavily damaged.
Keith Crum was driving a log truck for Little Log Logging of Cottage Grove and came upon the accident shortly after it occurred.
He said a vehicle in front of him pulled on its emergency flashers to signal a problem. Both vehicles stopped and that’s when he saw the Sweet Home School bus at the side of the road.
“I could see it was damaged badly,” Crum said.
He said emergency vehicles were on scene very quickly.
“It was just a matter of minutes,” Crum said. “There were state troopers and ambulances here immediately.”
It appeared that three or four of the ambulances headed north and one or two went south, Crum said.
Team members Tomas Rosa and Sean Swett were sitting at the back of the bus when the accident happened. Neither saw what happened.
“It just felt like it was on the brakes,” Swett said.
Except the impact was much harder than hitting the brakes, Rosa said. “Everybody bounced and everything. Our coach got it bad, and the driver got it bad.”
Rosa and Swett said the driver of the truck walked out of the accident before he collapsed.
Rosa said he had a headache following the accident. Swett had a cut and bruise on his right eye.
They were taken to the staff room at Central High School, they said.
“Central did a very nice job,” Athletic Director Larry Johnson said. They tranported the team, fed them and kept adults with them following the accident.
Both Johnson and Stineff extended their thanks to Central.
District 55 transportation supervisor L.D. Ellison said he was glad the team was traveling on one of the district’s newest buses. He was also glad the unit was a conventional chassis rather than one with the engine in the rear. He said the conventional system offers the driver greater safety.