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Van Buren Students Hospitalized After School Bus Crash

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TBO.com

Published: September 24, 2008

Updated: 09/24/2008 03:31 pm

TAMPA - Police cited a woman for careless driving today after investigators said she clipped the back of a taxi and rear-ended a school bus.

No one was seriously injured in the chain of events on North 22nd Street. About 18 Van Buren Middle School students were treated at local hospitals for neck and back injuries and were expected to be discharged by evening, officials said.

The wreck occurred near the school at 8715 N. 22nd St. about 8:45 a.m. Tampa police said the woman who was cited, Amalia M. Hoffman, 39, was southbound on North 22nd Street north of 97th Avenue when her green Mercury station wagon struck the right rear of a southbound taxi.

The impact deployed the Mercury's airbag, causing Hoffman to lose control of the car, police said. It slid onto the west shoulder before re-entering the roadway, striking the left-rear quarter panel of the bus, police said.

The bus, driven by Patricia Mathis, was in the northbound lanes of North 22nd Street because a disabled bus was blocking the southbound lanes, police said. About 40 students were on board at the time.

Police estimated the damages at $2,000 each to the Mercury and to the school bus and $500 to the taxi.

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