Truck driver cited in Beach Park school bus crash that injured 9 students
Nine children were taken to two hospitals after a crash between a school bus and two semitrailer trucks just after 3 p.m. Wednesday in Beach Park, authorities said.
The students' injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said. They were taken to Vista Medical Center East and Vista Medical Center West, both in Waukegan, according to a news release.
The bus was transporting 56 students from Beach Park Elementary School District 3's Kenneth Murphy Elementary School.
A preliminary investigation shows the bus was traveling north on Green Bay Road when it stopped for traffic near Major Avenue, Lake County sheriff's spokesman Chris Covelli said. The bus was rear-ended by a truck, pushing it into the semitrailer in front of it.
The driver of the truck that rear-ended the bus, Gurnee resident Milo Ostojic, 55, of the 900 block of Clark, was determined to be at fault for the crash, Covelli said.
Ostojic was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, no proof of insurance and no driver's license on person, Covelli said.
Ostojic has a Feb. 8 court date.
Children who were not injured were taken back to Kenneth Murphy School, and parents with children on the bus were advised to have an adult pick them up from the school, according to the Beach Park District 3 Facebook page.
Both truck drivers refused medical treatment, Covelli said, and the school bus driver was not injured.