By Kim Isaza
Marietta Daily Journal
MARIETTA, Ga. — A 12-year-old boy was airlifted to Scottish Rite Hospital early Friday after the Acura car in which he was a passenger was T-boned by a Marietta City school bus.
By early afternoon, Marietta Police reported the boy was in stable condition and not expected to worsen.
“The child has some fractured bones and internal bruising, but no head injury,” Marietta Police Officer David Baldwin said.
The crash happened at 7:15 a.m. Friday at North Marietta Parkway and Polk Street.
The Acura and the school bus were traveling in opposite directions on North Marietta Parkway. Baldwin said the Acura turned left onto Polk Street in front of the bus. The Acura had a green light but not a green turning arrow, Baldwin said.
The bus, which was traveling south on the parkway, crashed into the front passenger side of the Acura, directly where the boy was sitting.
Police identified the Acura driver as Bhavani Saride, 36, of Smyrna, who will likely face charges, Baldwin said.
But the bus driver, Bonnie Banks, 57, of Mableton, helped lessen the impact of the crash, and the bus stayed upright.
“The school bus driver had full brake lock-up on the bus and attempted to swerve to the left to avoid impact with the car,” Baldwin said.
Marietta City Schools spokesman Thomas Algarin confirmed that the boy is a seventh-grader at Marietta Middle School.
Banks, the bus driver, and 13 students on the bus, which was bound for Marietta High School, were taken by ambulance and another bus to WellStar Kennestone Hospital with minor injuries, Baldwin said. There were 37 students on the bus at the time of the crash.
Algarin said Banks had only recently become a driver for Marietta City Schools but had driven Cobb County school buses for 18 years.
The vehicles were towed away about 8:30 a.m.
“We feel truly blessed and fortunate that all of our high school students are safe and sound, and we hope the Marietta Middle student makes a speedy and complete recovery,” Marietta High principal Leigh Colburn said. “Most of our students came back to school after they left the hospital. The bus driver, the police officers, and the emergency personnel at Kennestone all did a great job.”
On Friday afternoon, there was another crash involving a school bus in Cobb, though no one was taken to the hospital.
Cobb Police Officer Mike Bowman said that crash happened just after noon at North Booth Road and Bells Ferry Road. Two children complained of injury, but their parents were at the scene.
Copyright 2012 Marietta Daily Journal
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