A bus driver and 33 students were injured Thursday morning when a pickup rear-ended a school bus as it slowed to pick up a student in southern Colorado, officials said.
The pickup driver, Christopher Comstock, 17, of La Jara, and bus driver Mark Lara, 56, of Alamosa were seriously injured in the 7:40 a.m. accident on Colorado 142, a mile east of Romeo in the southern San Juan Valley, said Gilbert Mares, Colorado State Patrol spokesman.
Comstock and Lara were taken to Conejos County Hospital in La Jara, where they were treated, Mares said. Comstock was admitted, Mares said, but Mares did not specify how he was injured.
The students were transported to the same hospital with minor to moderate injuries and all were released, he said. The passengers on the bus were students from Centauri High School and Centauri Middle School in the North Conejos School District, Mares said.
Comstock was going west in a 1990 GMC pickup when he hit the rear of the bus, Mares said. The bus had emergency lights on and was slowing to pick up a student.
Authorities do not believe alcohol was involved.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
