Louisiana Students Hurt In Bus Crash

KAPLAN, La. – The driver of a Vermilion Parish school bus transporting 26 students ran a stop sign Thursday, hitting a sports utility vehicle and sending three people to area hospitals, Louisiana State Police said.

Bus driver Tanya Primeaux, 40, of Kaplan, was headed east on Gladu Road in Vermilion Parish shortly after 4 p.m. and as the bus proceeded across La. Highway 700, it hit a Ford Explorer which had the right of way, said Trooper Stephen Hammons, a spokesman for state police Troop I in Lafayette. The accident happened in a rural, unincorporated area of Meaux, north of Kaplan, he said.

The driver of the SUV, Pauline Wheeler, 23, of Rayne, was taken to an area hospital with moderate injuries.

Primeaux was not hurt, but two of the children on the bus were taken to an area hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Hammons said.

Primeaux was cited for failure to yield at a stop sign, he said. “The bus driver was definitely at fault,” Hammons said.

Schools Superintendent Randy Schexnayder didn’t know which school the bus served, but said it was in the district for Indian Bayou Elementary School.