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Local Bus Wreck Causes Injuries To 18 Students

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2008

TAMPA - A woman was cited for careless driving Wednesday after she clipped the back of a taxi and rear-ended a school bus, police said.

No one was seriously injured in the incident 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 accident 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 went 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, according to police. About 40 students were onboard the Mathis bus at the time.

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

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