Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Nine children were on their way home Tuesday when their bus collided with a cattle truck north of Muleshoe.
MULESHOE - Maria Ruvalcabo said "it sounded like an explosion."
When a cattle truck collided with a Muleshoe school bus on Tuesday, Ruvalcabo said the impact made a large cloud of dust. When it settled, she saw a distraught bus driver and a little boy crying outside for his mother.
"The kids were real scared," said Ruvalcabo, who lives at the northeast corner of the intersection where the accident happened at Texas 214 and Bailey County Road 1028.
A report will be available Monday on the crash that sent nine children and two drivers to area hospitals, but officials said Saturday that the driver of the cattle truck will be cited for failure to pass safely on the left. Those hospitalized were treated for their injuries and released soon after the incident.
Officials said the wreck occurred after Martin Delgado-Garcia, 39, of Tulia, attempted to pass the bus carrying nine summer school children and piloted by Merryl Young, 59, of Muleshoe.
According to a preliminary investigation, Delgado-Garcia's vehicle struck the front of the bus as Young attempted to turn west onto CR-1028.
Both vehicles remained upright, but witnesses said Delgado-Garcia's truck ended up half a mile north of the intersection in a ditch west of the highway while the bus remained in the intersection.
First responders, including fire trucks and several ambulances, were on scene at least three hours.
Delgado-Garcia will be issued the Class C misdemeanor traffic citation, punishable by fines up to $500, Texas Highway Patrol Corporal Johnny Bures told The News on Saturday. Investigators reviewed video from inside the bus and confirmed that Young had activated her turn signal.
Eight of the nine children and Young were seen Tuesday afternoon at Muleshoe Area Medical Center for treatment and released, according to Muleshoe schools Superintendent R.L. Richards. One child was transported to Lubbock's University Medical Center with "non-incapacitating injuries," according to Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Bryan Witt. Delgado-Garcia was also taken to the Lubbock hospital with "medium-to-severe injuries," Witt said.
Both Delgado-Garcia and the child hospitalized in Lubbock were released Wednesday, Bures said.
"Muleshoe Schools is always invested in the best interests and safety of all students, so when this occurred we of course were concerned," Richards told The News on Friday. "At the same time we thank the Lord that all are safe."
Attempts to reach Young and Delgado-Garcia were unsuccessful.
Richards declined a request from The News to interview Young, who has driven school buses for Muleshoe ISD about six years and is also the district's transportation director.
