Mother Stops To Pull Out Children From School Bus That Overturned On Highway

A mother who was on her way to drop her son and his friends off at school stopped her car and helped pull out students from an overturned school bus in Kentucky.

Dr. Corrie Harris said she was among the first to help at the scene after the bus, which was on its way to duPont Manual High School in Louisville, overturned off Interstate-64 while carrying 21 students.

Harris said she was driving seconds behind the bus that rolled onto its side after hydroplaning Tuesday morning.

"I'm driving my son and his friends down to high school and we're on 64 and I see a bus on the side of the road, turned over," Harris told WAVE News.

Several drivers, including Harris, pulled over to help the students inside the bus. She told her son and his friends to stay in the car while she rushed to the scene.

"It looked like a top hatch of the bus had probably come open," Harris told the outlet. "So it was on the side and we could see there was an opening, but it was in this big bush and trees and brush. So we just kind of pushed our way through the brush and then jumped into the hatch to look at the kids. And we could see it was just chaotic. A lot of kids were bleeding, but they were all conscious."

Mark Hebert, a spokesperson for Jefferson County Public School (JCPS), said the bus went hydroplaning and stopped off the right side of the road. The bus rolled onto its left side and was facing the wrong direction when the vehicle came to a halt.

According to Harris, it was "amazing" to see a number of people stop to help until first responders arrived.

"There was so many people," the mother added. "I think every car going by stopped, because people were coming and helping to get the kids out and helping them call their parents and giving them a hug and it was pretty amazing."

Kennedy Thompson, a sixth-grader, was inside the bus when the incident took place.

"Everybody was screaming, and we had to go through the front of the bus," the student told KPLC 7 News. "All of the emergency windows and exits were on the side that was down."

Meanwhile, witness Colleen Hickman said it was raining hard when the bus overturned.

"I had my windshield wipers on high, as high as they could go. And it was pouring," Hickman told the outlet.

All the students inside the bus were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Hebert said. The driver, on the other hand, did not sustain any injuries.

"We know that everyone is going to be healthy. There are some injuries I know, but at least we are very thankful in the end all students will be able to go home before the end of the day today," JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said at a press conference Tuesday, according to WFPL.

The incident is being investigated, with the St. Matthews Police Department handling the probe. As for the bus, it has been towed back into a JCPS bus compound where it will remain in case authorities need it for the investigation.