Cary, N.C. — Cary police say the driver of a third vehicle might have caused the fatal crash of a Jeep Grand Cherokee and school bus Monday morning.

The Jeep driver, Lincoln Ross Woods, 25, of Cary, died in the crash on Morrisville Carpenter Road around 9 a.m., police said.

Woods worked as an air traffic controller at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.

Police said that the bus driver and an independent witness told them that a silver Taurus ran a stop sign at Good Hope Church Road. The bus driver swerved to avoid the Taurus and hit the Jeep on the driver's side. The driver of the Taurus kept on going, headed in the direction of Morrisville, police said.

"It's just one of those situations where just a little minor mistake on one or two people's behalves winds us up with a very serious consequence," Capt. Mike Williams said. 

The bus driver was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, Wake County school officials said.

The driver of bus No. 1137 had just finished dropping off students at Cedar Fork Elementary, so no students were on board during the wreck, said Greg Thomas, Wake County schools' director of communication.

Police reopened the intersection after what they described as a careful and thorough investigation of the wreck.

"They (wrecks) are difficult because you have to go back and look at every piece of evidence at the scene to try and piece everything back together," Williams said.

The investigation, though, won't be complete until police can talk to the driver of the silver Taurus, police said. They urged anyone with information about the driver to call Cary Police at 919-469-4012.

"We treat this just as serious as we do a death investigation or a homicide. Somebody has lost their life here," Williams said.