The driver of a semi-truck that crashed a school bus full of students from Hope Semper Christian School has been arrested.
Twenty people were injured in the crash in Columbia County. The children were headed to a year end field trip in the Wisconsin Dells.
The mother of an eighth-grader said her daughter suffered a sore neck and shoulder from the accident on I-39 near.
“If you knew you were impaired you shouldn’t have got your butt behind the wheel,” said Wynettia Lee.
Lee said her daughter is traumatized by what she saw.
“Seeing her friends have to be pulled from metal and all the things that they went through,” said the 8th grader's mom.
“She’s waking up crying picturing a truck hitting the end of a bus,” Lee also said.
Twenty-seven children and six adults were on board the school bus. The Wisconsin State Patrol said twenty passengers were hurt in the accident. Four were seriously injured.
According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, the driver of the school bus pulled over onto the shoulder because of a mechanical issue. The semi-truck then rear-ended the bus.
TODAY’S TMJ4 isn’t naming semi- truck driver since he hasn’t been charged.
The driver was arrested for five counts of OWI causing injury/great bodily harm, and he is in the Columbia County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.
He is from Indianapolis and worked for Dahl Trucking. The owner of Dahl Trucking said Wednesday the truck driver hasn’t been fired and is off duty until the investigation is finalized. He said before the accident, he was heading to Canada with a food delivery.
“These are people’s lives you put in danger. This could have been anybody’s family. It’s not right,” said Lee.
The 8th graders at Hope Semper were scheduled to graduate Wednesday, but since some are still in the hospital or recovering at home, they postponed the graduation.
