School Bus Overturns in Pr. George's
44 Students Hospitalized With Minor Injuries; Driver Is Accused of Speeding

By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 28, 2008

School bus 1156 was going too fast. That much was clear to the 44 students heading to William Wirt Middle School in the Riverdale area just before 9 a.m. yesterday.

A frightened girl asked the driver to slow down, four passengers recalled. But he didn't, the four said. And the students received an unpleasant lesson in physics: The top-heavy bus, whipping into a left turn from Riverdale Road onto 61st Place, tipped over onto its side, grinding to a halt and throwing screaming children into a heap.

The students and the driver were sent to hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening, police and school officials said. Antonio Nate Robinson, 46, was charged with speeding, negligent driving and not wearing a seat belt, said Officer Henry Tippett, a spokesman for the Prince George's County police. The violations could result in a total fine of $435 and six points on his driver's license.

Robinson, of Hyattsville, had five traffic violations in Maryland from 1985 to 1992, according to court records. The violations included failing to obey a stop sign and driving the wrong way down a one-way street. In Virginia in 1998, he was ticketed for going 70 to 74 mph in a 55 mph zone.

The Maryland violations were considered minor and old enough not to prevent him from being hired as a bus driver by the Prince George's County school system in August 2006.

Robinson's record "certainly came up during his screening," said John White, a spokesman for the school system. "There were no traffic accidents, so to speak. . . . He had 14 years between '92 and 2006. We thought that was a significant time with a clean driving record, and we thought with training he could be a responsible driver."

The accident sparked anger among parents.

"What about seat belts? What about screening these drivers?" asked Marscher Williams, whose daughter Deshaun was riding the bus.

By and large, school buses are remarkably safe. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, school buses are the safest form of motor vehicle transportation, with a fatality rate that is almost one-sixth the rate for passenger vehicles. On average, fewer than eight passengers die in school bus crashes every year.

Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said retrofitting buses with seat belts would cost millions for little gain.

"The fact that we had 40 kids on a bus, it turned over, and nobody was seriously hurt would indicate that we are doing pretty well not having seat belts on buses," Anderson said.

Students who were aboard the bus yesterday recalled fear, shock and chaos as the five-ton vehicle lurched.

"They were telling him to slow down," Jonah Gordon, 13, said of the other students. "The girl on the bus, she asked him to slow down. He was talking and playing along."

"He kept swerving and swerving," Deshaun, 13, said.

"He was going fast when he hit the corner," said Alexis Perdomo, 13, who had been sitting near the front. "Right before we fell, somebody screamed out, 'The bus is falling over!'

"I was terrified. It was scary," Alexis said. "Everybody was crying. All you heard was people screaming, glass shattering everywhere."

"While it's turning, everybody was screaming, 'Ooooh!,' " Jonah said. "We were all discombobulated."

When the bus finally screeched to a halt, diagonally across 61st Place and pointing northwest, the students clambered over one another to get their bearings. Alexis was unhurt: A student beneath him had cushioned his fall. Deshaun scraped her right cheek and had a swollen forehead and stiff knee. Jonah hurt his back. Sitting in the back row, he was the closest to the emergency exit, and after a few seconds, he took action.

"In my mind, all I was thinking was, 'I gotta get out of here, I gotta do something,' " he said. "I kicked the door, and it flew open."

The students piled out and began calling relatives, some of whom came to the scene as emergency responders took stock of the injuries.

"She was screaming at the top of her lungs" over the phone, Deshaun's mother recalled. "I told her to quit screaming because I couldn't understand. . . . I was panicking."

Twenty students and the driver were taken to Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly; the rest were taken to Doctors Community Hospital in Lanham. Most of the injuries were bumps and bruises, said School Superintendent John E. Deasy, who visited students and their families yesterday.

The bus was in reasonably good shape after the accident. A few windows on the side that struck the ground were damaged; one of the hatches on the roof had been opened. The front window on the driver's side was intact. After two tow trucks lifted the bus back into position, it looked as if the vehicle might very well drive again.

The extent of the driver's injuries was unclear, although they were not life-threatening. White said Robinson had been released yesterday. A phone number listed in his name was disconnected.

"Our preliminary investigation indicates he is at fault in this instance," Maj. Kevin Davis, commander of Police District 1, said of the driver. "He tried to beat the traffic. . . . It was the pure speed of the school bus during that left-hand turn." Davis didn't know the speed at which the bus was traveling.

County school officials said they would reserve judgment until the investigation concludes.

"We'll meet with him and hear his side before making any final decisions," White said of Robinson.

"The school system works in a uniform disciplinary process," Deasy said. If the charges of negligent driving are true, he said, "the employee would be dismissed."

Staff writer Hamil R. Harris and researcher Karl Evanzz contributed to this report.