Indiana State Police are releasing more details about a Wednesday morning crash involving a school bus and a trash truck in Dearborn County. Shortly before 8 a.m., ISP responded to the scene on State Road 350 near Mount Sinai Road that sent around 20 people to area hospitals with injuries.
The initial investigation by the Indiana State Police-Versailles Crash Reconstruction Team indicated that the trash truck, operated by 38-year-old Brian J. Rumpke, of Cincinnati, was parked on the edge of the eastbound lane while Rumpke was picking up trash from a home. A South Dearborn School Corporation school bus, driven by 64-year-old Raymond W. Nies, of Moores Hill, was traveling eastbound on State Road 350, when it collided with the rear of the trash truck. ISP says both vehicles came to rest in the eastbound lane of State Road 350.
Rumpke, who was standing outside of his vehicle, was struck by debris and sustained non-life threatening injuries. Nies sustained serious injuries. Both were transported to High Point Health in Dearborn County, Indiana. Nies was later transferred to University of Cincinnati Hospital for further treatment.
Authorities say there were 22 students, between grades six and 11 on the school bus at the time of the crash. Seventeen students were transported by ambulance to High Point Health for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. A 13-year-old boy was initially entrapped in the bus. He was later freed from the wreckage. He was transported to High Point Health before being transferred to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries.
The four remaining students were transferred to a different bus and were transported to South Dearborn Middle School and High School. At least one of those students was later transported to High Point Health by a family member for evaluation of minor injuries.
Both Nies and Rumpke submitted to blood draws while at High Point Health although alcohol and drugs are not suspected to be factors at this time.
State Road 350 was closed in the area for approximately four hours for crash investigation and cleanup.