By Doug Livingston
Akron Beacon Journal
AKRON, Ohio — A 51-year-old woman was killed Tuesday morning when the private school bus she was operating rolled over her and dragged her several feet.
According to Akron police, the woman was performing evacuation drills with 40 young students outside Middlebury Academy, a charter school on Kent Street in East Akron, about 8 a.m.
All of the students had practiced evacuating through the side door and had returned to the Petermann bus to practice emergency exits through the rear door.
During that drill, the vehicle began to roll.
The driver, whose identification is being withheld until relatives are notified, threw a 10-year-old girl out of harm’s way and attempted to get on the bus to re-engage its brakes.
She was pulled under the bus, however, and was dragged an estimated 40 feet. The bus rolled about another 40 feet before skipping off an apartment complex and crashing into a tree.
The woman was pronounced dead at Summa Akron City Hospital.
No child was injured, though police and witnesses said there may be lasting trauma from the experience.
Adam Fugget, 29, said he was awakened at 8:13 a.m. by to the sound of a school bus careening off his Kent Street apartment complex, located near the bottom of the sloping brick street.
He and his brother-in-law ran outside and boarded the bus, only to find some 40 book bags, no children and no driver.
When Fugget was told that the driver had thrown the last student out of the way before being dragged by the bus, he knew the cut on his hand he got from broken glass boarding the bus paled in comparison to what she had done for the kids.
“She’s definitely a hero,” Fugget said, standing outside his apartment door as a tow truck and Akron police dealt with the aftermath.
It is unclear at this point how the bus began to roll after remaining still during the initial phase of the evacuation drill.
A message left with Petermann Bus was not immediately returned. The Cincinnati-based company transports nearly 1,300 Akron students who attend charter and private schools in Summit County.
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©2014 the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)