School bus in accident with log truck

Published 8:52 pm Tuesday, September 10, 2013

No serious injuries were reported after a school bus carrying three students was involved in an accident with a log truck Tuesday morning.

Suffolk Police Department and Suffolk Fire and Rescue responded to the accident between the 18-wheeler and the bus at 7:56 a.m., in the 1100 block of Buckhorn Drive, near the Holland Road intersection, according to a city news release.

While the students were uninjured, the bus driver was transported by road ambulance to Sentara Obici Hospital with “a non-life threatening injury to his arm,” city spokeswoman Diana Klink said in the press release.

Email newsletter signup

The roadway was closed briefly after the bus, which was later towed, came to rest in a ditch, Klink said.

The bus was picking up Southwestern Elementary School students, school district spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw stated.

“Those three students were taken to school on another bus, and their parents contacted,” she added. “At least one parent decided to take their child to the emergency room.”

The bus is “more than likely” a total loss, according to Bradshaw.

The driver of the log truck, Manuel Silvester Wiggins, 56, of Gates, N.C., was charged with driving on the wrong side of the roadway, according to the news release. The accident occurred when the two vehicles were approaching each other from opposite directions at a sharp curve in the roadway, and the trailer portion of the log truck crossed the center line.