
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 21, 1991                   TAG: 9104210117
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: ABINGDON                                LENGTH: Short

BUS PLUNGES OVER EMBANKMENT; 22 PASSENGERS INJURED

One of the 22 passengers injured Saturday when a bus hurtled down an embankment in Washington County said it was a frightening experience.

"It's something I don't ever want to experience again," said Dwaine Moore, 28, of Fort Worth, Texas.

Fred Wright, chief financial officer at Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon, said the injured passengers were treated and released.

Trooper L.K. Brown said Greyhound bus driver Ira Dean Mitchell of Memphis was making his first trip on U.S. 11 near an Interstate 81 exit at Abingdon when the accident occurred about 2:30 a.m. Brown said Mitchell ran a stop sign, and the bus ran off the road.

Moore said he was awakened by the impact of the bus hitting a guard rail. "Next thing I know we're in mid-air," Moore said in a telephone interview.

Brown said Mitchell was charged with reckless driving.

by CNB