4th grader injured in school bus accident

By Carrie A. Mizell

A fourth grade student at Bell Elementary School was transported to the hospital Monday afternoon after a school bus accident at County Road 232 and County Road 337.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Wyatt Snelgrove of Bell was transported to North Florida Regional Medical Center as a precautionary measure after hitting his head when the school bus he was riding was hit by a pickup truck in the parking lot of the Osceola Voting Precinct. Wyatt has since been released from the hospital.
Heavy rainfall was a contributing factor in the accident, which occurred at 4:02 p.m.
Trooper A.O. Harrison of the Florida Highway Patrol indicated that a 1998 Dodge pickup truck driven by Kurt Swindel, 50, of Gainesville was traveling eastbound on County Road 232 approaching the intersection of County Road 337 when the accident occurred. A vehicle in front of Swindel was preparing to make a right turn onto County Road 337 and into the parking lot of the Osceola Voting Precinct, where the school bus was parked, to pick up a child who was riding the bus. This vehicle’s brake lights and right turn signal were on, but were dim to the point of being not visible, Trooper Harrison explained.
Due to the heavy rain, Swindel did not see that the vehicle in front of him was slowing down or that the vehicle’s lights were on until it was too late. When he did realize he was about to hit the vehicle, Swindel took evasive action, applying the brakes and steering to the right shoulder of the highway. According to Trooper Harrison, this action caused Swindel’s truck to slide onto the grass and cross over County Road 337 and into the parking lot of the Osceola Voting Precinct where it struck the school bus on its right front side. At the time of the accident there were eight children on the 2008 school bus, which was being driven by Beth Fowler. Wyatt Snelgrove was reportedly the only one injured in the accident.
Superintendent Don Thomas said on Tuesday that the community, as well as the school district, is very fortunate that everything turned out okay.
“We weathered an extremely unfortunate event Monday afternoon,” Thomas said. “Things could have been so much worse. Our staff very quickly arrived at the scene and assisted emergency crews in managing the scene.”
According to Thomas, all of the students who were on the bus at the time of the accident were quickly returned to their parents.
“I am proud of how instinctively our procedures for handling the accident were implemented,” Thomas said.
Swindel was charged with careless driving, and the driver of vehicle that was stopped trying to make the turn into the parking lot was given a faulty equipment citation.