River Ridge bus, dump truck collide
Rescue crews from about 10 different departments worked on the scene of a school bus versus dump truck crash in Patch Grove Township Tuesday afternoon, caring for the eight children, bus driver and truck driver involved in the accident that stunned the River Ridge School District community. (Photo by Correne Martin)
River Ridge Principal Clay Koenig (left) and Superintendent Jeff Athey (center) speak with officials and walk the crash site moments after one of the district’s school buses was involved in a collision Tuesday afternoon. (Photos by Correne Martin)
The dump truck involved was owned by Lepke Trucking. It ended up on the roadside. The driver appeared uninjured at the scene.
Some rays of sunshine peeked through darkened skies as rescue personnel assess the scene on County P.
The dump truck came to rest on the north side of County P.
Emergency crews brought injured students up out of the field to ambulances.
Teacher Joe Schulte reflects upon the accident situation from a distance.
By Correne Martin
A River Ridge school bus carrying children was struck by a dump truck Tuesday afternoon, May 23, not far from the district’s Patch Grove facilities. The Grant County Sheriff’s Department reported eight children and the driver were injured in the collision, which happened around 3:55 p.m., at the intersection of County Highway P and Morgan Road/Borah Ridge Road in Patch Grove Township.
The sheriff’s department said a Warco school bus entered County P from Morgan Road, as a westbound dump truck, owned by Lepke Trucking, crested a hill and couldn’t stop before crashing into the front of the bus near the exit doors. Upon impact, the dump truck exited the roadway on the north shoulder and came to a rest. The school bus spun around and went backward off the road, through the ditch and a barbed wire fence, before coming to a rest in the pasture.
One of the eight children riding the bus was ejected and transported by rescue squad to an area hospital, according to the sheriff’s department. Two of the passengers were taken by parents from the scene, one was treated and released at the scene, and the rest were transported by rescue squad to area hospitals. All passengers and drivers were located and released from the scene almost immediately after the accident, authorities said. According to the District Superintendent Dr. Jeff Athey, parents, staff and school board members were quickly notified via the district’s technology sytem.
The bus driver was Jon C. Cooley, 75. of Bagley. The River Ridge students on board as passengers included a 5-year-old boy, two 5-year-old girls, a 6-year-old girl, an 8-year-old girl, two 8-year old boys and a 15-year-old boy.
The truck driver was Randy Pugh, 59, of Viola; he appeared uninjured at the scene. According to the sheriff’s department, injuries ranged from minor to severe, with some involved parties still in the hospital Wednesday.
Athey reported Wednesday morning that one of the kids was medflighted from the Lancaster hospital to Iowa City as a precautionary measure for possible internal bleeding. Another child was medflighted from the Prairie du Chien hospital to La Crosse and then to Madison Wednesday morning for a broken leg. One of the Warco employees also informed Athey that the bus driver suffered a sprained back, cuts and bruises.
“I’m just happy we’re not dealing with deaths this morning,” Athey said. “It was heartening to see the response of our local ambulances, fire and sheriff’s departments. They were so attentive to our kids at the scene.” Athey also praised the staff at the local hospitals for caring for the students so well in such a frightening situation.
The Wisconsin State Patrol reconstructed the crash scene Tuesday. No information regarding speed of the dump truck or other potential factors in the crash were released as of press time Wednesday morning.
Emergency departments assisting at the crash site were Bagley First Responders, Patch Grove Fire Department, Bloomington Fire Department, West Grant EMS, Fennimore Police Department, Fennimore EMS, Lancaster EMS, Gundersen-Tri State EMS and Grant County Emergency Management and other Good Samaritans.
School was held Wednesday in the River Ridge School District, where its crisis team and faculty met before school to determine the course of action for the coming days. Athey said he and a group of counselors spent time in the morning also giving general information to the elementary classrooms, specifically, about what happened.
