Published: September 28, 2009 10:24 am      

School bus carrying Heath swim team plunges into pond

By Jim Hardin

Herald-Banner Staff

HEATH — A Rockwall school bus carrying 19 members of the Rockwall-Heath High School swim team plunged into a pond Monday morning when the vehicle’s right front wheel left the pavement, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

Sgt. Scott Trammell of the Heath Department of Public Safety said these are the preliminary results of an investigation into the accident, which resulted in injuries to five students and the bus driver.

When the right wheel left the roadway and the driver lost control, Trammell said, he just “rode it out” into the shallow pond. The officer said that if the driver had tried to steer the bus back onto the roadway, he could have overcorrected and caused the bus to flip.

Trammell identified the bus driver as James Flowers, 66, who has been an RISD bus driver nine years.

A school district news release stated that all injured students who were transported to area hospitals were treated and released, with the exception of one student who was taken to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas for further evaluation. The student remained hospitalized Wednesday, but school district spokesperson Sheri Fowler said her injuries were not life threatening.

Trammell said officers were dispatched to the 8000 block of Farm to Market 549 at 9:08 a.m. He said the bus was headed toward Heath when it left the roadway and went into the pond.

When officers arrived at the scene, he said, the students already were out of the bus. Trammell said the driver was still inside the bus.

Trammell said three of the students were taken to Presbyterian Hospital of Rockwall and two were taken to Lake Pointe Medical Center in Rowlett. The driver, he said, was taken to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas. The school district news release stated that the students were transported to area hospitals to check for possible head, neck and back injuries.

Sally Martin said she was in her home when she heard sirens. She looked outside, Martin said, and saw the partially submerged bus in the pond in front of her house.

The students already were outside the bus when she arrived at the scene.

“They were shaken up, but they were on cell phones trying to call their families,” Martin said.

The young people were calm.

“I was very surprised,” she said. “They were doing wonderful.”

The bus was transporting the swim team from the RISD Aquatic Center back to the home campus in Heath when the accident occurred, according to the news release.

Martin said the students apparently got out of the bus through the emergency back exit. She provided towels for the students, who were wet from the waist down.

“We are so glad and thankful the students were able to evacuate the bus on their own,” Fowler said.

Fowler said the school district is following standard operating procedures in investigating the accident. She said the process involves bus maintenance records, the employee’s driving history and personal interviews with those involved in the accident.