School bus driver charged after 3-vehicle wreck on N.C. 127

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2006

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer
Staff Writer

A school bus driver was cited Friday after his bus, carrying three children, was involved in a three-vehicle wreck near Hickory, according to the N.C. Highway Patrol.

A student who had been on the bus was treated for minor injuries. The driver of a car involved in the wreck was hospitalized; her injuries were not life-threatening, Trooper J. Swagger said.

Swagger said the bus was headed north on N.C. 127 when a truck ahead of it slowed to make a turn. The bus slid when the driver attempted to slow and hit a car in front of it, which then hit a truck, Swagger said.

The bus driver, 53-year-old Kenneth Atkinson of Hickory, was charged with failing to reduce speed to avoid a collision.

The bus was carrying students from Catawba Valley High School.

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