Father upset with school after daughter suffers concussion from school bus crash in Harnett County

Six students and a bus driver were involved in a Monday morning crash of an overturned bus.

Bus 28 was headed to Harnett County Early College around 7:41 a.m. when it overturned on a curve on Byrds Mill Road.

Erwin's fire chief said all six students and the driver were off the bus when crews arrived.

They were all checked out by emergency medical crews, and only minor first aid was required. None of the students were taken to the hospital, according to the school district.

Harnett County Schools said the students on the bus suffered minor injuries, but one parent said that's not true.

Bobby Thomas said he took his 14-year-old daughter to the hospital and discovered she suffered a concussion in the crash.

"She was on the opposite side, and as it flipped to the right, she landed on the side with the destroyed windows," Bobby Thomas said.

He said his daughter had several bruises, scrapes, cuts and abrasions from the crash as well.

Thomas questioned the school system's response to the crash. He said the school system took his daughter to a church instead of taking her to a hospital. After he picked her up from the church, he said he took her to the emergency room.

"When we send them to a school, my hope is that, if they're in an accident, they triage that accident the right way," he said. "Not to say, 'Hey, there's no injury and send a child home with blood on their elbow, blood their thigh, blood on their foot...

"I most certainly think that there was no protocol in place... and if there was, it wasn't followed."

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol is investigating, and said exceeding a safe speed around the curve was a contributing factor to the crash. Thomas said a substitute driver was running behind on his route to get his daughter and other students on the bus route.

WRAL News reached out to Harnett County Schools and received the following response:

"Harnett County Schools takes all accidents like this very seriously. School administrators contacted parents as soon as possible and student were reunified with parents either on the scene or a community center near the accident site. EMS evaluated each passenger to determine if additional medical attention was necessary before releasing them to be picked up by a parent. We will continue to review the matter, and wish speedy recoveries to all of the students."

The State Highway Patrol said the driver of the bus received a citation at the scene. He was wearing his seat belt.

No other cars were involved, according to the State Highway Patrol.