'I want my mom!' 911 calls reveal terror of fatal Springfield bus crash
"I want my mom!"
The cry is visceral, rising above the cacophony of screams and cries heard around it.
A parent can be heard frantically yelling their child's unintelligible name. Other adults can be heard helping children to a door in a school bus and asking if they're OK, offering what little comfort they could.
For more than two and a half minutes, the dispatcher listens, occasionally asking if anyone can hear her, as children scream and cry.
The call is one of nine emergency dispatchers received from the scene of a school bus crash Tuesday morning in Clark County that resulted in one student being killed and more than 20 others injured. It is unknown if the call came from someone on the bus or a bystander on the scene.
The crash happened around 8:15 a.m. Tuesday on State Route 41, near Lawrenceville Road. A Northwestern Local Schools bus with more than 50 elementary students headed to their first day of school was headed west on the two-lane road when a 2010 Honda Odyssey minivan going the opposite direction crossed the center line.
"It sounded really bad," one 911 caller told dispatchers as she walked toward the site, worried about her children who were waiting for the bus. "Oh, my God, the bus is on its top. It's down an embankment."
A few moments later, the caller said "I can hear them crying."
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said the bus driver tried to avoid a head-on crash by driving onto the shoulder, but the vehicles still collided. The bus flipped onto its top before bystanders could get the bus onto its side and help students out to safety.
Another caller said their niece was on the bus and was panickily trying to get to the crash scene.
"We've got everybody we have on the way," the dispatcher said. "We've got everybody going."
One student, 11-year-old Aiden Clark, was thrown from the bus and died at the scene. A community vigil, attended by Clark County leaders and Gov. Mike DeWine, was organized for Wednesday night at a church less than 2 miles from the crash site.
Aiden's funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Monday. Friends and family can pay their respects to the family Sunday in Springfield.
Classes at Northwestern Local Schools were canceled Wednesday and Thursday. Teachers were being given training on Thursday on how to process the crash and talk with their students at grade- and age-appropriate levels about what happened.
The school district is also accepting donations to help the families of the students on the bus who may have medical expenses and who need to replace school items that may have been lost or damaged in the crash.
The driver of the minivan, Hermanio Joseph, 35, was arrested Wednesday and charged with vehicular homicide. According to court records, he had an Ohio identification card and a driver's license from Mexico, which was not valid.
Joseph is currently being held in the Clark County jail. During an initial court appearance Thursday morning in Clark County Municipal Court, he pleaded not guilty and the court set a $100,000 bond.
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'I want my mom' 911 calls reveal terror of fatal Springfield bus crash
