RANDOM LAKE, Wisc. — The Random Lake community is still trying to make sense of a school bus crash that sent several students to the hospital Monday morning.
I spent the morning in surrounding neighborhoods, connecting with residents.
“I had numerous text messages from many, many friends and family members wondering if my daughter was okay, my grandkids were okay,” Jackie Jentges said, choking up.
When Jentges talked with me, her emotions were still raw. She had woken up worried about her family’s safety.
She has four grandchildren in the Random Lake school system. Her daughter also works for the district’s transportation department and spoke only positively about the bus driver.
“This affected the whole community, and it’s a tight community,” Jentges noted. “Everyone cares about everyone.”
Watch: Random Lake residents try to make sense of Monday's school bus crash
Several community members stopped by in town asking if I had any more information about the crash.
What we know so far:
A Jeep allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign and struck the bus carrying 36 students around 7:30 a.m. Monday in the Town of Fredonia.
The bus then overturned into a ditch. Students were immediately evacuated through the emergency exits.
Eight students and the driver wound up in the hospital with a range of injuries. None were life-threatening, and all are expected to survive, according to the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Department.
The investigation is ongoing.
Sheboygan County resident Tony Medinger was helping a friend with yard work in the Random Lake area when he heard the news about the crash.
“I saw the pictures of it laying on its side after the kids were all removed,” he explained. “The poor parents once they heard. I’m sure they were glad to be reunited with their kids and make sure they were okay.”
The sheriff’s department said the driver of the vehicle has been cooperative with officers and did not appear to be impaired or distracted at the time of the crash.
For now, Jentges is asking everyone to keep the students and their families in their thoughts and prayers.
“Hopefully, they can overcome this. Because I don’t know how old or how young some of the kids were, but anyone who’s in an accident…you live with that fear.”
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