A dozen people, mostly students, were taken to hospitals last night after a school bus slid off a road on the eastern plains and rolled down a ditch.
The single-vehicle crash happened at about 9:30 p.m. on U.S. Highway 24, five miles east of Peyton, in El Paso County, said Trooper Nate Reid, a Colorado State Patrol spokesman.
The bus, carrying 24 middle school students from Calhan, along with five adults, was eastbound on the highway when the driver lost control on the icy road, Reid said.
The bus rolled on to its side after sliding down an embankment. It was snowing at the time of the crash.
Eleven people injured in the crash were taken by ambulance to hospitals. One adult, a 31-year-old man, was flown from the scene by helicopter.
All of the injured, including the 31-year-old, have been treated and released.
The bus driver, Les Dawson, 65, of Simla, was not injured. The bus was returning to Calhan, from Colorado Springs, after a sporting event.
Dawson is charged with careless driving causing injury, the state patrol said.
The bus was carrying Calhan Middle School seventh- and eighth-grade basketball players who were returning from games against The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs, Linda Miller, Calhan superintendent told The Gazette.
Dina Fuqua, athletic director at Vanguard, told The Gazette the Calhan team bus left about 8:50 p.m.
Fuqua estimated that about 50 Calhan basketball players from four teams — two girls teams and two boys teams — were at the games.
“The biggest concern I have are the children,” Miller said, adding that she has contacted counselors to ensure they are available to the students today.
“They’re scared,” she said. “It was a pretty significant situation for them.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
