EXCLUSIVE: Driver Hospitalized After School Bus Drives Miles Off Route
By Walt Hunter
UPPER DARBY, Pa., (CBS) -- Upper Darby Police say frightened children, screaming for help from the windows of their school bus brought them racing to the corner of West Chester Pike and New Street around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Superintendent Mike Chitwood says the 21 children, ages 5 to 10, got scared after the bus, that was supposed to be taking them home from a West Philadelphia Charter School instead began skipping stops, and driving miles away into Upper Darby.
Chitwood says a driver who saw the children screaming for help aboard the bus near 69th Street Terminal dialed "911". Officers then found the bus pulled over a few blocks west.
According to the police Superintendent, the bus driver was "disoriented" and had gotten lost twice before driving into Upper Darby. The driver, police say, was taken to a local hospital for observation and testing.
Officers determined there were no injuries to the children, with the exception of a little girl who pinched her finger trying to open a bus window.
As the children were transferred to another bus and dropped off at their normal locations, School District officials say the driver was a substitute on the route. They say they are now investigating to find out what what happened and to determined the source of the driver's medical problems.
A spokesperson for All-City Transportation, the company that operates the bus under contract to the school district, told CBS 3 the company is aware of the incident, but would have no further comment.
