Driver airlifted to hospital after head-on collision with school bus

BROWN COUNTY, Ohio — The driver of a pickup truck was airlifted to the hospital Friday morning after a head-on collision involving a school bus.

Brown County Dispatch confirmed air care responded to a collision between a truck and school bus before 9 a.m. along Purdy Road in Sardinia. The bus belonged to Eastern Local Schools, and Superintendent Dr. Michele Filon said the district is fully cooperating with the investigation.

None of the 20 children on the bus were seriously injured, but the family of the 39-year-old pickup truck driver said he has broken bones and may need surgery. Troopers said the driver was on his way to work when the crash happened.

Britton Denny, a man who lived near the crash, said he helped pull the students out of the back of the bus after the vehicle had extensive damage to the front.

"They were terrified," Denny said. "[I] really just tried to talk them down, calm them down and get the adrenaline to stop flowing, but I don't think there was a kid who came off that bus that wasn't crying."

Ohio State Highway Patrol said it is still unclear how the crash happened.

The crash comes one day after several students were taken to the hospital when a pickup truck hit the back of a Middletown City Schools bus. All of the students had "minor injuries" per the city's communications manager.