Click to enlarge CHRIS JENNINGS / HERALD DEMOCRAT Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper David Taylor collects information Tuesday at the scene of a wreck involving a Tom Bean school bus on Luella Road.

BY MARY JANE FARMER

HERALD DEMOCRAT

TOM BEAN -- A school bus driving students home was struck by a wayward passenger car about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday as it approached a hill.

Four people, the driver of the passenger car, the bus driver, and two young school bus riders, were taken by ambulance to Wilson N. Jones Medical Center with injuries not believed to be life-threatening. Sherman Fire Chief J.J. Jones said transporting them to the hospital was precautionary.

Skid marks left by the passenger car indicated that, as it topped the hill going north, it went sideways, then crossed the two-lane roadway. The marks indicate it was headed straight for a power pole in the pasture.

It struck the front right bumper of the school bus, traveling south, and the car came to a stop in the pasture, feet back from the pole. Both occupants, Tom Bean students, were seen moving around outside the car, but the male driver was later taken by Sherman ambulance to Wilson N. Jones Medical Center.

The school bus came to a stop still on pavement.

Tom Bean ISD Superintendent Kathy Garrison credited the bus driver for her actions after the wreck. Garrison said the driver kept the students calm by leading them in singing, and that she opened all the bus windows. The driver also notified the school immediately, and that set into motion the district's emergency operation procedures. Immediately, Whitewright EMS was dispatched. They, in turn, had dispatchers place two helicopter ambulances on stand-by, then asked for help from the Sherman Fire Department.

Another Tom Bean bus was sent to the scene and stood by until it was needed to take students on home. As word of the crash spread, several parents arrived on scene to gather up their children.

Both Jones and Garrison said that they were grateful that no one was more seriously injured. Then, they talked about the emergency procedures and how this incident would initiate an evaluation to determine how the procedures could be changed.