The driver of a charter tour bus that overturned while taking Philadelphia students on a Washington, D.C. field trip will be charged by Maryland law enforcement after officials reviewed video of the incident.
The bus carrying 26 Charles W. Henry School eighth grade students, three chaperons and the driver, Clarence Beamer, 59, of Philadelphia, flipped at least once on the highway during the May 15 wreck along Interstate 95 in Havre de Grace, Maryland, police said.
"We felt the bus swerve and then, I guess, the bus just went up and started turning around," eighth grader Saniyah Copeland said. She received 12 stitches in her forehead.
On Wednesday, Harford County State's Attorney General Joseph Cassilly announced plans to charge Beamer with negligent driving and failing to stay in the lane.
Video from on board the bus shows the bus traveling in the center lane with another bus trailing in the slow right lane. A car begins to pass the bus but as it does, Beamer begins to change lanes into the fast left lane, forcing the car onto the shoulder, according to Maryland state police and attorney's office investigators.
The video abruptly ends as the car reaches the front of the bus, investigators said.
Investigators were assured the recording is complete when they asked why it stops suddenly.
One teacher was left with severe injuries and a handful of children spent days in the hospital.
Emergency responders credited Philadelphia police officers and recruits headed to a police event in Washington, D.C. with rendering immediate aid. They happened to be one of three buses near the crash.
"They were crying," retired Philadelphia Police Officer Charles Esposito said. "They were all asking about the other children."
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
The bus was operated by Phoenixville, Pennsylvania-based charter company Werner Coach. The company issued a statement at the time of the crash, saying they would cooperate fully with police.
Calls to a company publicist weren't immediately returned Wednesday.
