Bus crash on way to disabilities learning center sends 5 kids to hospital, NY cops say

A school bus on its way to a disabilities learning center rolled off a ramp and crashed in New York, officials said.

Five students were injured in the Friday, Oct. 20, bus crash, in addition to an aide receiving “serious injuries,” according to an Amherst Police Department news release. All six injured people were sent to the hospital for treatment.

The school bus was on its way to Beyond Support Network, previously known as the Cantalician Center for Learning, when it crashed at 7:42 a.m., police said. The students were on a First Student bus, which is a “school transportation solutions provider,” according to its website.

The Beyond Support Network works with students with disabilities on a variety of skills, including improving “communication skills, personal hygiene, healthy lifestyles, safety, making the right choices, self-advocacy, community travel, vocational skills and self-improvement,” according to its website.

In the lead-up to the crash, a pick-up truck tried to merge into interstate traffic when the driver lost control and hit the school bus, police told WKBW 7 Buffalo. The bus then flipped off the ramp into a ditch, according to police.

A traffic alert on X, formerly known as Twitter, was issued by Amherst police at 8:24 a.m. for I-290, a nearly 10-mile interstate that bypasses Buffalo and leads to Niagara Falls in Canada. Officials said to avoid the area, warning drivers of “road closures and severe traffic backups.”

The five injured students were sent to Oishei’s Children’s Hospital “for evaluation,” police said. Officials did not release the names and ages of the children.

A school aide who was also on the bus was seriously injured, and after receiving onsite aid, was taken to Erie County Medical Center, according to police.

The center released a statement on Facebook about the crash, saying that families were notified. The organization was “relieved” to hear the students had non-life-threatening injuries.

Both drivers of the bus and the pick-up truck were checked by medical professionals, but they were not sent to the hospital for further treatment, police said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed the incident on X, noting she spoke with Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz about “this tragic accident.”

Amherst is about 10 miles northeast of Buffalo.

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