School bus flips, injuring 8 students. Now driver cited, South Carolina officials say

A school bus driver has been cited in connection with a crash that injured eight students, according to South Carolina officials.

The bus was heading east down a dirt road at around 3:45 p.m. on Aug. 19 when the driver lost control, Sgt. Matt Southern with the South Carolina Highway Patrol told McClatchy News.

The bus then ran off the road to the left, struck an embankment and overturned, he said.

The crash happened in a rural area of Chesterfield County near Jefferson, Ken Buck, spokesman for the Chesterfield County School District, told McClatchy News. Jefferson is about 65 miles northeast of Columbia.

Around 24 elementary and middle school students were on board at the time, Buck said. Eight went to the hospital and were treated and released.

“All I remember was just hearing a boom and then the bus falling,” Kylee Hatchell, a sixth grader at New Heights Middle School, told WSOC-TV. “And everybody falling into the windows and falling everywhere.”

The driver was cited for driving too fast for conditions, Southern said. He said the exact speed the driver was going was not immediately available. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

Buck said the driver is still employed with the school district but would not say whether she had driven students since the crash.

This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 3:01 PM with the headline "School bus flips, injuring 8 students. Now driver cited, South Carolina officials say."