SUV hits Bend school bus; student injured

A Bend woman was cited for running a stop sign and hitting the side of a school bus at slow speed at a northeast Bend intersection Wednesday morning, injuring one student and prompting medics to check out 20 of the 50 students aboard, authorities said.

Police responded around 8:20 a.m. to the corner of Northeast Third Stret and Clay Avenue on the reported crash involving a silver Honda Pilot driven by Amee Marie Escamilla, 37, and a Bend-La Pine Schools bus driven by Michael James Barnett, 62, also of Bend, said Lt. Clint Burleigh.

During the initial investigation, one student complained of a minor injury and was released to their parent, Burleigh said. A total of 20 students were evaluated by Bend Fire Department paramedics after arriving at their schools and later released to parents.

Amy Meddock, whose daughter was on the bus, posted to NewsChannel 21’s Facebook page that the girl has a concussion, a cervical strain and a bruise on her head from slamming into the window when the driver swerved and slammed on the brakes.

Barnett was able to coordinate with the school district to get all the children to their apopropriate schools, as they were moved to another bus by administrators and police.

Escamilla was issued a citation for failure to obey a traffic control device, Burleigh said.

The lieutenant said the respond to the event “demonstrated the exceptional partnership” between police, fire and school district personnel, as “all worked together to ensure the safety, security and comfort of the students” who were on the bus.

“The bus driver did a great job,” he added, “and avoided a potentially more catastrophic crash by applying the brakes and slowing the bus before the impact.”

Burleigh also provided some school bus safety info from Bend-La Pine Schools:

“School buses are designed to be safer than passenger cars,” they noted, adding that buses are higher off the ground than passenger cars, thus able to avoid most of a crash impact.

“Today’s school buses are tougher and more diligently maintained than ever before,” they said. “School bus drivers receive special training in safety, security and medical procedures and received regular driving record checks.”

Bend-La Pine Schools bus drivers transport more than 5,000 students to and from school each day, on 120 daily bus routes.