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Taken by Wells County EMS to Bluffton Regional were students Chad Randon, Anthony Richard, Carlie Van Meter and a fourth, unidentified student.
The 8:40 a.m. crash occurred at the intersection of Metts St. and Heyerly Dr. between Ossian Community Market and Ossian Pro Hardware.
According to Ossian Police Chief David Rigney, Stephanie Boschet, 24, Fort Wayne, was eastbound on Heyerly when she failed to stop for preferential Metts and T-boned the school bus in the right side.
The diver of the bus, Lloyd Meyer, rural Ossian, was southbound headed toward Ossian Elementary at the time of the collision. He had a full load and was taking them to be dropped off at the school.
“I saw she wasn’t going to stop and I couldn’t get stopped,” said Meyer, who said he was pretty shook up by the crash. Meyer swerved to avoid the collision but the impact of the front of the Mazda MX 3 was just ahead of the right rear wheel well.
It was significant enough to knock the bus across the centerline of the street. The bus then drug the car southward from the intersection about 50 feet where it came to a stop in a grassy area on the west side of the Ossian Car Wash facing south.
An Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy, who was outside of Community Market, witnessed the accident happen and using his police radio he immediately requested EMS and police.
Because of the short distance from police and EMS headquarters, medics were on the scene in about a minute and quickly assessed that they were going to need additional help with the number of patients involved. So they requested response from the Ossian Fire Department.
Three ambulances were requested at the scene with an EMS unit also responding from Markle.
None of the injuries were serious and all of the four who were taken by EMS were treated and released from the hospital.
“Bumps and bruises appear to be the extent of the injuries,” said Rigney.
The other children were taken to be checked out as a precaution. They were transferred from one bus to another and taken by the school bus to the hospital’s emergency room.
“We took every student to Bluffton Regional. The doctors and nurses have been tremendous here,” said Northern Wells Supt. Dr. Gina Berridge. “They’re making sure every student is healthy and safe. The four that were brought by ambulance were complaining of head and neck pain,” said Berridge.
“Parents were coming and picking kids up. (Ossian Principal) Shellie Miller and I called every parent,” she added.
Parents were given the option of taking their children home for the rest of the day or taking them to school, said Berridge.
Such a large number of patients could have overwhelmed the hospital, but Bluffton Regional director of marketing Tamara Boucher explained that the hospital has had in place a plan and has practiced for just such an emergency.
Chief Executive Officer Tom Clark was pleased with how well the whole operation went.
“Things went smoothly in caring for the children and their families,” said Clark, adding, “That is the result of great cooperation between Wells County EMS, law enforcement, Northern Wells School administration and the Bluffton Regional staff.”
Because there was not room for all of the children in the emergency room, a special triage was set up in the hospital’s cafeteria.
The crash closed the lightly traveled Metts St./Heyerly Dr. intersection for about 45 minutes. Firefighters used equipment to cut away some bent metal from a storage compartment on the side of the bus that had been pushed into the right rear duals of the bus. Other than having a significant dent in the right side and having a ruined storage compartment, the bus was driveable and was driven away by Meyer from the scene. It will be taken out of service until repairs can be made.
The car sustained substantial damage. Rigney estimated the total damage between the car and the bus to exceed $10,000. The car was towed from the Scene by Loren’s Towing Service of Bluffton.
glenw@news-banner.com
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