A motorcyclist and the driver of another car were pinned under a school bus with children on board in what authorities are describing as a nasty crash Friday morning in northeast Minneapolis. A third vehicle also was involved in the wreck which occurred at 6:57 a.m. at the intersection of Central and Lowry avenues NE.

"The bus was literally on top of the motorcycle and one of the cars," said Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder.

The male motorcyclist was extricated from the wreckage and taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale where he was being treated for a compound leg fracture, Elder said.

Neither the drivers of the two vehicles were seriously injured, nor was the driver of the school bus, Elder said.

It was not immediately clear how many children were on the bus heading to Heritage Academy of Science and Technology, but none required medical attention, said Idiris Mohaud, a spokesman for Minnehaha Transport, the company operating the route.

Another bus took the children to school, he said.

According to Mohaud, the school bus was on Lowry Avenue, had a green light and pulled into the intersection of Central when a driver on Central Avenue allegedly ran a red light. That driver struck the first vehicle, which then hit the motorcyclist. Both came to rest under the school bus.

"He just came out of nowhere and boom," Mohaud said his driver told him. "It could have been worse."

Police and the Minneapolis Traffic Control Unit is investigating.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768