Girl, 5, dead after school bus crashes into tree in Georgia
GUM BRANCH, Ga. — A school bus driver on her early pick-up route lost control on a dirt road and smashed into a tree Tuesday, killing a 5-year-old girl and sending 21 other children to hospitals.
The crash happened on a foggy morning just before 7 a.m. as the bus was gathering Taylors Creek Elementary School students in tiny Gum Branch, a city of fewer than 300 residents that backs onto a large military community about 50 miles (80 kilometres) southwest of Savannah.
It’s too soon for investigators to know if the 62-year-old driver, who also was hospitalized, will face any charges, said Lt. Thornell King of the Georgia State Patrol. King said video from a security camera on the bus showed her struggling with the gear shift right before the crash.
“The driver, she made a right-hand turn and she hit a bump,” probably a roadside ditch, King said. “After she hit the bump, you can clearly see on the video her struggling with the gear shift as if to put the bus in park or trying to slow it down.”