GRANDVIEW, Mo. -- The Grandview High School’s boys’ track team is recovering after their bus was involved in a crash on Saturday night.
According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, troopers were called to the scene at NW 50 Highway and NW Route Z around 7:25 p.m.
The school bus had been t-boned by a minivan, the driver of the van had fled the scene and later taken into custody, arrested for DWI.
Several Grandview students were rushed to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Rashad Buckles, a junior at Grandview High School, was on the bus when it was hit.
“All I remember is tires screeching and us being in the air and everything was going in slow motion,” said Buckles.
The team was on their way back from a track meet when the van smashed into the side of the bus.
“I watched the van hit us and I just grabbed onto the seat and we were rolling. I was just wondering, am I about to die?” said Rodrick Smith, a junior on the track team.
Junior Andrew Kearse had dozed off when he felt the crash.
“I opened my eyes and I see this dude across from me, Zavion, like fly up and I tried to grab him. That’s why my wrist is sprained,” said Kearse.
After it was hit, the bus rolled three times, tossing people into the air before it landed on its side off 50 Highway near Lone Jack.
Eight students were hurt.
“I saw blood all on the walls. I didn’t know who was bleeding,” said Rayvon Epperson, a freshman on the track team.
“When I first got off, I got on my knees and just started praying,” said Kearse.
As the boys crawled off the bus, they noticed some teammates were laying in the grass.
“I wasn’t able to move at first. My legs were locked up, my whole body was locked up. I just laid there,” said Rashad.
A good Samaritan pulled over to help, Rashad says she called his mother from his cell phone.
“She said 'well the bus was in an accident, he’s ok. I’m here with him and keeping him calm until the paramedics arrive,'” said LaChandra Buckles, Rashad’s mom.
Rashad couldn’t remember the woman’s name who stopped to help, but he says she did stay with him until the paramedics arrived. It's something he wants to thank her for.
As the students waited for paramedics, Rashad’s parents rushed to the scene.
“I was driving, but I was just automatically praying ‘let my son be okay, let my son be okay, let everyone be okay,’” said Reginal Buckles Senior, Rashad’s dad.
Down the road on another bus, the Grandview High School Girls’ Track coach got word of the crash.
“He says we lost the boys bus and they’ve been in a major accident,” said Abigal Waits, a sophomore who was on the girls’ bus.
Waits says her teammates immediately tried to call their friends who they knew were on the other bus. Waits called Rashad. The two are good friends and had attended prom together.
“I was so relieved that he picked up the phone, just to know that he’s okay and he’s talking. But the terror in his voice, it was sad,” said Waits.
Parents say the driver of the minivan should pay for what he did, noting that the injuries of some students could cost them scholarships.
“He deserves the maximum he could possibly get from this because he could’ve killed somebody,” said Jose Rendon, Abigail’s dad.
The boys that were on the bus say they feel traumatized and they can’t stop thinking about what happened and what they saw.
They also say they are forever grateful that everyone made it out alive.
“Thank God for letting me live and at least seeing everybody get out,” said Rashad.
