Tullahoma, TN : Five people injured in a wreck involved school bus near Franklin County school on Thursday morning, Sep 24, 2015

Two children were flown to hospitals in a wreck that involved a school bus near a Franklin County school on Thursday morning.

A car carrying a mother and three her three boys, twin boys age 5, and an 11-year-old, and the school bus wrecked around 7:15 a.m. near North Lake Elementary School on Old Tullahoma Road (Highway 130).

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said a car driven by Aprille Rexroade, 29, of Tullahoma, failed to stop at the stop sign on Awalt Road at the intersection of Old Tullahoma Road.

A school bus driven by Lorretta Stafford, 72, of Winchester, struck Rexroade's car in the left driver side rear door.

Joan Pockus heard the crash happen.

“There were two little boys sitting on the ground bleeding from the head, and mom was running around,” Pockus said. “And then the first responder was at the backseat calling, ‘Maddox, wake up.’”

Seth, 11, was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center and is in stable condition there, according to the hospital. Maddox, age 5, was flown to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga. Rexroade was transferred to another hospital while her son Connor was treated and released from Southern Tennessee Medical Center in Winchester.

Officials said one of the children was critically injured.

Authorities report one student on the bus had a minor injury to their hand.

Franklin County Transportation Director Ellis Counts said the bus driver may have prevented further injuries.

“If there is a hero in this, it’s bus driver Lorretta Stafford. She did everything right. She’s been driving forever,” Counts said. “She took evasive action, came to a controlled stop, and the students were all obeying the rules. Thank goodness. If they were standing or running around, we would’ve had serious injuries, catastrophic injuries. They went by the rules and the only injury we have is one jammed finger.”

Counts brought a second school bus to the scene and transported the students to school.

Franklin County Schools officials said there were 35 students on the bus at the time of the crash. Director of Schools Dr. Amie Lonas said the coming days may be tough for students.

“We’ve notified all of the elementary principals to have their guidance counselors on standby,” Lonas said. “We may have them go to North Lake tomorrow or the next couple of days … to talk to students who want to just sit down and go over what happened.”

Source:

5 injured in car vs. bus crash in Franklin County