A bus driver and four schoolchildren were taken to a Yuma hospital with minor injuries Thursday morning after the bus rear-ended a semi-tractor trailer in rural Yuma County, authorities say.
The truck was eastbound on U.S. 34 and making a right-hand turn onto Yuma County Road H at 7:42 a.m. when the bus, which was behind the truck, rammed into the back of the semi, according to Trooper David Hall, spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol.
“It could have been much worse,” said Yuma School District Superintendent Dennis Veal. He said all of the 12 children aboard — ranging from kindergartners to 10th-graders — were wearing seat belts.
Eight of the children were not injured. The four children who suffered minor injuries were identified as Josh Gordon, 15; Ansley Brophy, 14; Paul Brophy, 8; and Amber Snelling, 16.
Bus driver Bunnie Hardy, 58, had to be extricated from the minibus, which has a capacity of 14 students.
Hardy, who has more than 13 years of experience, had minor injuries, Veal said.
“The driver is going to be just fine,” he said.
The accident happened about 1 mile east of Yuma — about 30 miles west of the Kansas border in northeastern Colorado.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
