LIVERPOOL -- A truck driver died in an accident that forced troopers to evacuate a Liverpool Central School District school bus.
State Police spokesperson Jack Keller says everyone on the bus is okay.
Police say the truck driver, 52-year-old Terry Smith, of 19 Winchester Drive, was heading north on Henry Clay Boulevard when he lost control. They say he smashed into a sign for the Hampton Estates apartment Complex and sheared off a utility pole before landing in a ditch. Smith was taken to Upstate University Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police say he may have had a medical condition just prior to the crash.
The impact caused wires to fall onto the roadway, and onto a Liverpool School District bus. Police were able to escort all of the children off the bus safely.
Superintendent Dr. Richard Johns says two elementary students, a bus driver and aide were onboard at the time of the accident. The students were later transported to their school.
"They were a little shook up when it first happened. It's kind of a scary thing," says Johns. "It scared them for a while, but they're calmed down now."
Liz Stradford was waiting for the bus with her 7-year-old son when she saw the accident.
"It was very scary," says Stradford. "It was a very bad scene, not a way to wake up on a Monday morning."
Stradford says the district sent another bus to take her son and other children who were waiting for the bus to school.
