Hartford man dies after car crashes into school bus in Bloomfield

Bloomfield police said a Hartford man died after crashing his car into the back of a school bus on Bloomfield Avenue on Tuesday.

None of the children aboard the bus were hurt, but the bus driver reported back pain and was taken to an area hospital, police said. An alternate school bus was sent to the scene to transport the elementary school children.

The crash happened at about 8:30 a.m. in the area of 1333 Blue Hills Ave. Officers arrived to find the car lodged under the back end of the bus. Blue Hills Fire District firefighters extricated the 33-year-old victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, police said. His name has not been released.

The driver, according to the preliminary investigation, had been slowing down to make a pickup and was pulling to the right side of the roadway when the car crashed into the rear end, police said.

Blue Hills Avenue was closed to traffic between West Dudley Town Road and Old Windsor Road to investigate the accident. The North Central Municipal Accident Reconstruction Squad was called to the scene and took over the investigation.

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com