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A school bus/vehicle accident south of Knoxville sent eleven people to the hospital yesterday afternoon, including eight children. Marion County Sheriff Ron Goemaat tells KNIA/KRLS News that at about 3:37pm they received a call that there had been an accident involving a school bus and a car. Knoxville Fire Chief Mike Roberts tells KNIA/KRLS News that the driver of the bus, Annette “Toni” Pitt, 53, was airlifted by Mercy One. Mercy Hospital authorities report that Pitt is currently in serious condition at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Roberts says approximately seven children were released to their parents on scene. The Iowa State Patrol reports that all of the children were treated at area hospitals and released.

According to the Iowa State Patrol, 19-year-old Kendra Dorn, of Oskaloosa, was traveling eastbound on Oregon Drive when she failed to stop at a stop sign at 135th Avenue and collided with the bus, causing it to roll once before landing upright. Knoxville Schools Superintendent Dr. Randy Flack and his wife, school nurse Donna Flack, spent much of last night with Pitt at Mercy Hospital. Dr. Flack tells KNIA/KRLS that despite her own condition, Pitt’s main concern was how the students involved in the accident were doing.

Cuts, abrasions, and bruises were the main complaints of injury among those involved. Roberts tells KNIA/KRLS that the children were transported as a precaution, and that no injuries to the children appeared life threatening. Roberts and Knoxville Rural Training Officer Austin Kingery tell KNIA/KRLS that the older children on the bus are to be commended for helping get the younger children calmed down and off the bus before and as emergency personnel arrived.

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The Iowa State Patrol reports that Dorn and her passenger Edwin Smith, 21, of Knoxville, were transported to the Knoxville Hospital and Clinics as a precaution and have since been released.

Dr. Flack tells KNIA/KRLS that he would like to thank the first responders who responded to the scene, as well as the students who performed so well under the emergency conditions. By all accounts, the older students performed well under these trying conditions, according to Flack, and that they used their emergency training very well at the scene.

KNIA/KRLS News will bring you more information as soon as it becomes official.

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Original post 4:15pm January 30

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