Moments before the crash Saturday, there was a question.
“What is this guy doing?”
An oncoming silver pickup had just veered into the path of a school bus carrying the boys varsity soccer team from Golden High School.
The team’s coach, Chad Reid, 36, was driving the bus and doesn’t remember asking the question aloud, though his players told him later that he did.
On Sunday, he talked about the actions that left him trapped in the driver’s seat, the bus overturned along U.S. 85 outside of Denver and four of his players injured.
“The only choice was to either hit him head-on or go to the right,” Reid said.
Reid chose the latter, swerving off the road to miss the truck, then trying to steer back onto the road to miss a ditch.
“Guys, hold on,” Reid shouted to his team.
The bus flipped onto its roof and skidded across the highway. The team was sent flying throughout the cabin.
None, except Reid, had seat belts available.
“There were chairs, paper flying everywhere,” said Drew Reveille, 16, who was one of four players taken to nearby hospitals with minor injuries after the crash. “I just protected my head.”
The bus came to rest on the opposite side of the highway. The players made it out of the bus, but Reid was left hanging upside down until help arrived.
The pickup was nowhere to be found after the crash, said state Trooper Gilbert Mares.
Four players suffered cuts and bruises. One of the four broke his finger, Reid said.
All were released from hospitals within hours.
“I can’t tell you how grateful I am that all these guys are OK,” said Reid, who has been coaching the team for a dozen years. “These are all somebody’s kids, you know?”
Reveille said he was also glad none of the 17 people aboard were hurt any worse.
“I’ve heard of teams getting in crashes and dying,” he said. “I’m just glad that none of us got hurt as badly.”
In November, a bus crash in Alabama killed four high school students. In March, another in Atlanta killed six college baseball players from Ohio.
“You don’t take that for granted,” said Reid, who teaches economics and American government at the school.
Troopers are still investigating the crash, and Mares said they are looking for more information about the silver pickup.
Right now, they don’t have much to go on.
“We don’t have a license plate. We don’t have a description of the driver,” he said.
But, he said, if they find the driver, it’s possible that person will face charges of leaving the scene of a crash.
Staff writer Nick Martin can be reached at 303-954-1698 or nmartin@denverpost.com.
