|
IN OTHER NEWS
April 2, 2008 - ST. THOMAS SOURCE
Book Bag Tripped Parking Brake on Bus in
Friday Wreck, Police Say
An errant book bag released the brake on the school bus that hit a parked car Friday by the Joseph Gomez Elementary School, police said Wednesday.
A preliminary investigation by the V.I. Police Department’Äôs traffic investigation bureau indicates the school bus parking brake knob was disengaged when a student tossed a book bag in the bus and hit the knob, releasing the brake, said Melody Rames.
The bus rolled down a hill, hitting a parked car containing passengers and pushing it about 33 feet into two other unoccupied vehicles. No students were injured.
The passengers in the car were complaining of discomfort but okay.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - TELEGRAPH HERALD - Dubuque, IA
School Bus Driver Injured in Incident
While a school bus driver attempted to park an empty bus Monday morning, the bus slid down an embankment, through a guardrail and crashed into a fence, causing about $50,000 in damage, police said.
The driver was transported to Mercy Medical Center-Dubuque, where he was treated and released for minor injuries.
Just after 8:30 a.m., the driver was attempting to park a bus in a lot at 1350 West Locust Street. He told police that he put the bus in neutral, shut it off and then went to the back of the bus for an inspection, but he believes he forgot to activate the emergency brake, police said. When he walked back to the front, the bus went over a curb, through a guardrail and fence, down an embankment, where it stopped in a wooded area.
Dubuque Community Schools Transportation Manager said there was no one else on the bus at the time, and there were no other injuries. She said a preliminary estimate on damage could top $40,000.
The school district stated the bus driver has been with them for four years and he has a clean driving record.
March 6, 2007 - Spring Grove, IL
Driver of the rig threw a shovel into the cab and hit the air brake/emergency knob
A semi-truck was delivering stone for a new home construction when the driver of the rig threw a shovel into the cab and hit the air brake/emergency knob. Parked downhill, the semi cruised out of control until it was stopped by a boulder in a front lawn some 100 yards away. The only casualty of the mishap was a neighbor's freshly sodden front lawn and a few broken landscaping rocks. Thankfully, this incident did not occur on the weekend when the streets are full of kids riding bikes and scooters, the outcome may have been catastrophic. The SOS Air Brake Safety Clip could have prevented this mishap.
Sept 20,2007 - Ocala, FL
A fire truck rolled out of Fire Rescue headquarters
into a downtown lake.
The driver/firefighter failed to set the truck's parking brake after a run.The combination of a sloped floor in Fire Station 1 and movement in the water tank was enough to start the rig rolling. The truck rolled out of the station, down a ramp, across a busy street and into Lake Tuscawilla. No one was injured, but the truck sustained $60,000 in damage. Had the SOS Air Brake Safety Clip been mandatory equipment the mishap could have been prevented.
May 23, 2006 - CBS NEWS - New York
School Bus Tragedy in NYC
(CBS/AP) An 8-year-old boy was arrested after he sneaked onto a school bus and released its parking brake, causing it to roll forward and fatally strike a second-grader, police said Tuesday.
The boy was to be charged with criminally negligent homicide, Officer Doris Garcia said. Police were withholding his name because of his age, she said.
Investigators believe the driver got off the bus and secured it but the boy may have gotten inside through the back door, an emergency exit that cannot be locked, police spokeswoman Detective Theresa Farello said. No charges were filed against the driver. A spokesman for the Department of Education said the bus driver was finished with his rounds and on his lunch break. Sometime while the boy was on the bus, he released the parking brake.
Friday, October 3, 1997 - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS - New York
School Bus Kills Bronx Boy Upstate
A 9-year-old Bronx boy was crushed to death by a rolling school bus on an Orange County apple farm yesterday after other kids ’Äúhorsing around’Äù in the bus released the parking brake.
Dozens of screaming youngsters ran for their lives as the bus careened nearly 300 feet down a hill before smashing little Robert Richard into a tree as he waited to take a pony ride.
Three other boys were hit but suffered only minor injuries, police said.
The accident occurred about 12:30pm at Masker’Äôs Apple Orchard in Warwick, about 60 miles north of the city.
As usual at this time of the year, the farm was busy with hundreds of visitors out to enjoy a day in the country at a place where they can play with animals, listen to Indian songs and enjoy picking their own apples.
Warwick Town Police Sgt. George Arnott said a bus from Faith Temple New Hope Christian School in East Orange, N.J., brought several dozen children to the farm in the morning and parked on an incline near the main office. The driver, he said, left the bus for a while around noon, and three boys one 9 the other two 11 entered the bus.
’ÄúThe kids apparently were just playing around, typical horseplay,’Äù Arnott said. ’ÄúBut somehow the parking brake got disengaged.’Äù
He said the three boys jumped from the bus as it began to roll down the hill and shouted warnings to dozens of children in the way. Young Robert was in a group of kids waiting at the bottom of the hill for pony rides and probably didn’Äôt hear the boys yelling.
Witnesses said the bus smashed the boy into a tree and stopped, and scores of other children watched in horror. Arnott said psychological counselors were rushed to the farm to help the youngsters deal with the shock.
Arnott said investigators took statements from the three kids who released the parking brake and said it appears what happened was an accident. No charges have been filed in the case.
Friday, October, 6, 2006 - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES - Chicago
Runaway CTA Bus: "I couldn’Äôt believe what I was seeing"
Sitting in traffic, waiting to make a left onto South Lafayette, the last thing Scott Hite expected to see was a CTA bus ’Äì without anyone inside ’Äì come rolling his way.
The driver of the No. 71 71st/South Shore bus had parked it outside the CTA terminal at 69th Street, near the Dan Ryan Expy. He told his boss he left it in neutral while taking a break. One problem: The bus was at the top of an incline, without the air brake engaged and started to roll downhill. It picked up speed as it rolled down toward 69th and State ’Äì and several cars.
’ÄúI couldn’Äôt believe what I was seeing,’Äù said Hite, an obstetrician/gynecologist who was heading home around 5:30 Tuesday evening when it happened.
His car narrowly avoided being hit. Three other drivers weren’Äôt so lucky. They weren’Äôt hurt, but the bus crashed into one of their cars, pushing it into the others. All three cars had damage.
The bus driver has been suspended without pay while the CTA investigates. The CTA will cover repairs.
|
