Nine students were taken to Connecticut Children's Medical Center by ambulance Tuesday after their school bus collided with another car at the intersection of Asylum Avenue and Scarborough Street in Hartford, according to police.
Police said the Dattco bus was traveling southbound on Scarborough Street when it collided with a car driving westbound on Asylum Street around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Eighteen elementary school students were on their way home from the CREC University of Hartford Magnet School on Bloomfield Avenue in Hartford at the time of the crash, according to a school spokesperson.
Nine students and the driver of the car were hospitalized for treatment of minor injuries. Authorities said all injured students have since been released.
Hartford police said city and school officials reacted quickly to the crash.
"The school system and the city have a protocol in place for when this kind of thing happens," explained Hartford police spokesman Deputy Chief Brian Foley. "The bus company was here immediately, the school principal actually came to the scene very quickly."
A second-grader on board the bus described the crash as "pretty scary."
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"I was the first bus stop so we were going to my bus stop. I saw a bunch of police and fire trucks and ambulances," said second-grade student Cameron Brown. "There was screaming and a couple kids were crying."
Cameron's mother, Selestian Patterson, brought him to Connecticut Children's Medical Center after learning he had hit his head.
"After speaking with him, I found out he hit his head and busted his lip a little bit, so I just brought him here to get him checked out," said Cameron's mother, Selestian Patterson. "The bus kind of went off to the right of the street a little and some of the children fell."
CREC said the students were treated as a precaution and met their parents at Connecticut Children's Medical Center. The parents of uninjured students picked them up at the crash scene.
Traffic detours caused heavy delays during rush hour. Part of Scarborough Street was shut down Tuesday evening, and Farmington and Albany avenues overflowed with extra traffic as a result.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Police said the drivers gave conflicting stories about what happened and it's unclear who was at fault.
Dattco has not returned a request for comment.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
