Near disaster: Propane truck hits Mississippi school bus, overturns; amazingly no one hurt
Published 9:03 am Thursday, December 5, 2019
A crash Tuesday between a propane truck and a Brookhaven school bus near the end of its afternoon route remains under investigation by police.
Six students were on the bus with the driver at the time of the crash around 4 p.m. No injuries were reported and the students were moved away from the bus to wait for parents, said Brookhaven Police Chief Kenneth Collins.
Traffic was expected to be diverted for several hours following the collision at the intersection of North Jackson and Palmer streets.
Collins said the road was closed to through traffic while law enforcement officers gathered evidence from the scene and the area would be evacuated later when employees of Herring Gas Co. offloaded the propane from the overturned truck into another vehicle. Emergency Management Director Clifford Galey said the road was cleared by 6:30 p.m.
Firefighters with the Brookhaven Fire Department and Brookhaven School District personnel were also at the scene.
It appears the school bus was making a left turn from Palmer Street onto North Jackson Street when the crash with the Herring propane truck occurred in front of a house at 1608 North Jackson St., taking out the homeowner’s mailbox. The truck overturned during the collision. The driver was walking around after the crash, but appeared to have suffered a few cuts to his hand.
Superintendent Ray Carlock expressed his thanks to the Brookhaven police and fire departments, and KDMC Ambulance Service in a statement released Tuesday evening, and said the school district is “committed to the safe transportation of our students.”
Herring Gas Co. is a 73-year-old family-owned business headquartered in Meadville that sells propane gas to residential, commercial, agricultural and government customers through 21 offices located in Mississippi and Louisiana and a fleet of 69 delivery trucks.
According to the company’s website, each of its service technicians and gas sales associates receive monthly safety training and meet or exceed state and local safety requirements, the company said.