LEXINGTON, S.C. — In the hours before a South Carolina school bus reportedly blew a tire, crashed into a guardrail and overturned, killing a 13-year-old student, the driver checked all of the buses’ tires and concluded they were “safe for travel,” according to a signed statement he made just days after the April 17 crash on Interstate 77 in Chester County.
In response to WCNC Charlotte’s public records request, Lexington School District Two turned over the driver’s statement and more than 200 other pages of maintenance records for the activity bus, which was on the way back from a field trip in Charlotte when it flipped.
“I recall passing a semi truck on left passing lane. After getting back into the right lane for travel, I recall hearing a ‘boom,” which appeared to come from the passenger side,” the driver wrote, in part. “The bus became difficult to steer and I made contact with a guard rail. This impact caused the bus to flip and land onto its right passenger side before coming to rest!”…