ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - The driver of a bus taking students to a Rochester elementary school Tuesday morning apparently suffered a heart attack before the vehicle collided with another school bus and a tree, sending eight students and another adult to the hospital, officials said.
Rochester police and city school district officials say a small school bus was taking eight students to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School No. 9 at approximately 7 a.m. Tuesday when it sideswiped a First Student Transportation bus. The small bus then slammed into a tree, crumpling its front end.
David Bonacchi, Monroe Transportation's vice president and general manager of Monroe Transportation, told the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester the driver of the company's small school bus possibly had a massive heart attack before the collision.
Authorities said the driver of the small bus died at the scene. The bus company identified him as Edwin Rivera Dejesus, 30.
School district officials said eight elementary school students between ages eight and 11 were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital. Six were released and two others were being treated Tuesday afternoon for injuries that aren't life threatening, as was a bus monitor, officials said.
District officials said the three students on the other bus weren't hurt.