Car crashes happen every day all over the world and are so common that the majority of them do not even make local headlines. There are exceptions, of course. Someone like Jennifer Lopez being rear-ended is bound to make the tabloids. Also, Florida. Florida is always an exception.
On Monday a log truck slammed into the back of a school bus in Starke, Florida. According to a Florida Times-Union report a chaotic scene involving children crying and a naked woman lying nearby played out as rescue workers arrived at the crash site.
A Bradford County, Florida sheriff told the Times-Union that some children were trapped on the bus when he arrived. The sheriff also stated that the injured, naked woman appeared to have been thrown from the truck during the crash.
Fifteen children were aboard the bus when the crash occurred and seven were taken to the hospital for injuries. Three adults were also injured in the crash – the bus driver, the truck driver, and the naked woman (later determined to be the truck driver’s wife). No one died as a result of the crash.
What exactly caused the crash has not yet been determined. The most intriguing question surrounding the incident – why the woman was naked – has also not yet been determined.
According to the Times-Union report the crash occurred at a school bus stop on U.S. 301 on Monday afternoon while the bus was dropping off elementary school students. It was raining at the time and some parents were waiting at the bus stop. The bus driver saw the truck speeding toward the bus and hit the accelerator before the crash, mitigating some of the impact. Even so, the truck slammed into the bus without breaking, pushing it about 40 yards into a field by the road. Witnesses told the newspaper that the truck’s engine became dislodged as the truck jacknifed into a ditch.
The Times-Union has since reported that the truck had been stopped and inspected in Nassau County at around noon on Monday. Authorities had been alerted that the log truck, which was not carrying a load, was driving recklessly.