WTHR |Four students killed in Cass County bus crash

Four students killed in Cass County bus crash

David MacAnally/Eyewitness News

Cass County - Four students died in a crash involving a school bus in Cass County Friday afternoon.

The bus belongs to the Twin Lakes School Corporation in Monticello. The crash, which also involved two dump trucks, happened on US 24 about six miles west of Logansport around 2:45 pm.

The students on the bus were from Landis Elementary and Parkview Elementary in Logansport. They have been identified as 10-year-olds Trevor Ingram and Tyler Geiger, nine-year-old Kale Seabolt and five-year-old Lauren Melin, all from Monticello.

The driver of the bus, identified as Debbie DuVall, also from Monticello, was transported to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne. She is listed in serious condition and is expected to recover.

Indiana State Police say the school bus was headed westbound as two dump trucks headed eastbound. Raymond Gust, 59, was driving a motor scooter eastbound in front of the trucks when he stopped or slowed to turn into his driveway.

The first dump truck, driven by Terry Dixon of Logansport, could not stop in time and tried to avoid the scooter by moving into the opposite lane. That truck clipped the back of the school bus, sending it onto its side towards the ditch.

"The second dump truck immediately behind him slammed on his brakes, causing him to go into the westbound lanes where he struck the rear portion of the bus," said State Police Sgt. Tony Slocum.

The second truck, driven by Joe Magers of Logansport, struck the roof of the bus, pushing it into the ditch.

"I heard a big boom and it was horrific. It was just terrible," said one witness.

The witness was the first to reach the bus, finding the bus driver was still conscious.

"The first thing she asked was about the kids. She wanted to know if they were alright," he said, becoming emotional. "One of the kids was out on the ground."

The bus, which was carrying special needs students, was headed from Logansport towards Monticello, the area of the Twin Lakes School District. The school district has about 2,600 students and covers a large rural area in north central Indiana.

"Anytime you hear a school bus is involved, or a bus, you think the worst and that's pretty much what it was," said Logansport Fire Capt. Rex Danely.

All of the children on the bus were restrained with a seat belt or child safety seat, however, State Police have determined the impact was too severe for the restraints to save the children.

"When I pulled up here, it was hard to describe," said Sgt. Thomas Wallace, Cass County Sheriff's Department. "In fact, I was at a loss for words when I first radioed in as to the severity of the crash. If I recall correctly, I just said, 'Get help out here, it's bad.'"

Neither Gust nor the drivers of the dump trucks were injured in the crash.

Police say there is no indication that illegal drugs or alcohol contributed to the crash. Inspectors from the Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division will conduct inspections on the bus and both dump trucks Saturday to determine if any mechanical deficiencies contributed to the crash.

Since the crash involved a school bus, the National Transportation Safety Board will also conduct an investigation.

Although the bus is not a typical yellow school bus, police say it meets the same safety standards and specifications as a regular school bus. The white buses are used to transport students from one place to another with no stops in between.

Scott Allen from the Monticello Herald Journal told Eyewitness News that family members began to arrive at the scene around 5:00 pm.

Community reacts to tragedy

Many in Monticello learned of the deadly school bus crash by watching the wreckage on television.

"My mom got like three different phone calls and she told us so we turned on the TV," said Twin Lakes High School junior Olivia Cosgray.

"We ran down the stairs and turned on the TV and we saw the helicopter coverage of it and we just kind of stared at the TV, shocked," said Twin Lakes senior Toree Peters.

The four special needs students were on their way home from Landis Elementary and Fairview Elementary in Logansport. The Twin Lakes School Corporation has a joint co-op for special education, which combines students from several districts.

Angela Litkey is friends with DuVall and DuVall's husband, who are both school bus drivers for Twin Lakes.

"She's a very sweet caring person, very religious," Litkey said of DuVall. "It's very, very sad and my thoughts and prayers are going out to the families and the other families who've lost their loved ones. It's been just a really, really hard time."

Twin Lakes Superintendent, Dr. Tom Fletcher, echoed those words in a statement. 

"It saddens the Twin Lakes school community to report the death of four of our students involved in a school bus accident. Our thoughts and prayers are with our families and loved ones," the statement read, in part.

Residents of Monticello say the town and the high school are small and close-knit. So the loss of four young lives is very tough to take.

"It's tragic. I just can't believe it. It's sad," said Monticello resident Tracey Watkins.

The school corporation has made counselors available for the families who lost loved ones in the crash.

(Eyewitness News reporter Jennie Runevitch contributed to this story from Monticello.)