COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A school bus was involved in a chain-reaction crash in Coweta County Thursday afternoon, injuring multiple students, the bus driver and an assistant, police said.
Channel 2's Berndt Petersen was in Coweta County, where school officials said the crash happened at Highway 154 and Woolsie Road around 12:15 p.m. The bus was headed back from a school activity to Coweta High School.
Police said two cars were going north, with one about to pull onto Woolsie Road. One car bumped the other, sending the lead car into the path of the bus, officials said. The car clipped the bus as it swerved to try to avoid the accident. The bus ended up on its side.
The two students and two adults on the bus were transported to a hospital as a precaution. Another student in one of the cars also was taken to a hospital.
Police said the bus was taking two Coweta High School students back from the local Goodwill, where they were volunteering.
Police said everyone had on a seatbelt. All five victims' injuries were minor, police said.
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Petersen spoke with a witness, Susan Vaughn, who lives just down the block and said she heard what sounded like two crashes.
"I'm out here in my garden, minding my own business, when all of a sudden, it sounds like a really big thud," Vaughn said. "When (the bus) hit the pavement, it really made a lot of noise. So I went out there. The kids across the street in the cars were upset and crying."
Vaughn and her friends were among the first to get to the crash site. Vaughn said she saw rescue workers pulling people out of the back of the bus.
NewsChopper 2 was over the scene as crews worked to right the bus. It has since been towed from the crash site.
The highway was shut down for several hours as officers investigated, the sheriff's office said.