Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 29, 1994 TAG: 9403290168
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ALLISONIA LENGTH: Medium
Daniel Gary Taylor, 12, of Allisonia was one of three children riding on Pulaski County bus number 38 at 7:40 a.m. when the accident happened. His younger sister also was on the bus.
Sonja S. Taylor was driving along the narrow, unpaved Rock Creek Road (Virginia 764) when the right side of the vehicle glanced off a rock ledge that leans almost onto the roadway, located in the southern part of Pulaski County near the Pulaski-Carroll line.
The bus veered across the road and smashed into a tree, which caught the boy's head and killed him instantly.
State Trooper T.W. Hall said the boy either had his head out the window or his head was thrust through the window by the impact. There was broken glass where he was sitting, Hall said, but it was too early in the investigation to be sure what happened.
``Just a freak accident,'' Hall said. ``He was sitting at the wrong place at the wrong time.
``It's sad ... It's just hard to imagine.''
School administrators said the boy's mother has been driving buses for several years. ``She can't remember exactly what caused her to go off the road'' before hitting the rock ledge, Hall said.
The other passengers, a 17-year-old student and the boy's sister, who is about 9, ``ran down the street to the next house and called us,'' Hall said. Neither of them was hurt.
The bus was traveling toward Virginia 693, a paved road that winds through the Big Reed Island community, and was about a mile from turning onto it. The unpaved road was wet from rain and was covered in several spots by water that had overflowed from the creek.
Most of the Dublin Middle School students learned what had happened only after arriving at school, although not all of the accounts being passed around early in the morning were accurate.
``We're providing counseling to the students on an as-needed basis,'' said Principal Paul Phillips. ``We're managing according to the plans we've made in the past for situations like this.''
The bus showed little damage aside from some dents from the rock ledge and tree.
``You see something torn all to pieces, and people walk away from it. And then you have one like this, and we lose someone,'' Pulaski County Emergency Services Coordinator Stan Crigger said.
Stevens Funeral Home in Pulaski is in charge of arrangements, which were not complete Monday.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB