HIGHLANDS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – Two Highlands County students are still recovering from serious injuries after Wednesday’s school bus crash. In a split second, the lives of 39 students and a driver were put in jeopardy as their school bus was rear-ended by a big rig.
Recovering at home, Erika Alvarez is coping with a lot of physical pain. She tells News Channel 8, “It hurts when I walk and I have to use the crutches and stuff.”
She knows she’s lucky she survived Wednesday’s crash.
“I could have lost my life ’cause I was like four seats away from the back of the bus and the door,” she said.
Erika can only remember faint details about the collision.
“The swerving of the bus, then hitting the window, then seeing all the kids from the right side just fall onto the left side of the bus.”
She also describes a vague memory of the bus tipping over on its side.
“All I seen was our window going towards the ground and the ground coming towards the window.” She went on to say, “”I felt terrified like I was gonna die or something.”
Alvarez says when she opened her eyes, blood was everywhere.
“When I looked up, I saw like this girl and she was like…her nose was bleeding. And I saw this other boy and he touched his nose and stuff and his like, his mouth, his nose was just gushing blood out.”
Then her cousin, Luiz Rodriguez, bravely kicked out the front windshield so other kids could get out.
“The door was up so it would be harder to get out that way and that was just a simpler way to get out,” Rodriguez told News Channel 8.
And like many other parents, Erika’s mother wants answers.
“What was this truck driver doing that he didn’t see this bus at this stop? The bus was stopped,” she said.
News Channel 8 has also learned the semi-truck driver, Stanley Lockwood, has been issued a few tickets in the past. Some of the offenses include unlawful speed and careless driving.
