By Rick Dandes
The Daily Item
February 21, 2009 12:05 am
—
FREEBURG -- Selinsgrove school officials are searching for the identity of a man who helped a driver and her 19 student passengers off a bus that crashed into an 8-foot-deep gully Wednesday.
While other motorists came upon the Produce Road accident and didn't stop, a man in his 30s did, school bus driver Connie Marsh-Raker said Thursday.
The scene had been one of mass confusion, said Marsh-Raker, 50, of Freeburg.
"There was panic. Screaming. Crying. When the bus finally came to rest, I turned around and said to my kids, You have to be calm. You're all OK.' And they did just that. They quieted down."
Selinsgrove transportation director Peter Carroll was addressing another incident -- a bus on another route was stuck -- when he was notified by 911 operators of the Produce Road crash.
Sharitz Bus Service, of Selinsgrove, the district's school bus contractor, also notified Carroll and Superintendent Frederick Johnson. About the time two district principals began phoning parents, the unidentified man stopped to help the driver and students out of the bus.
When the first emergency responders arrived, he left without giving his name.
"He said he had to go," Marsh-Raker said.
State police from Selinsgrove took the names of the children, and made sure their parents or guardians were contacted.
Johnson said it took less than an hour for parents and guardians to be notified, and to pick up the children. When Johnson arrived shortly after 4 p.m., parents were already there, he said.
The two students hospitalized after the accident were released Thursday. The other 17 students and the bus driver walked away from the crash uninjured.
"We were lucky," Carroll said. "Considering the icy road."
All school bus drivers have route alternatives, which they can use when circumstances dictate, Carroll said.
Marsh-Raker, a driver with the district since April 1997, chose to stay on Produce Road, but slowed her speed on the slick two-lane to 10 mph. When the bus began to slide, she couldn't steer it or stop it from rolling into the ditch, she said.
Her passengers on Thursday were thrilled to see her back, Carroll said.
Johnson was equally thrilled with the district's communications following the crash.
"The work by emergency personnel at the site was fantastic," Johnson said. "They did a great job. We're very fortunate. They handled it well and professionally. As did our internal people."
And as did the mystery man.
Said Carroll: "I'd like to know who he is and thank him."
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