School bus hits car that ran light; car passenger, 7, critically hurt

Star Tribune

Last update: February 24, 2009 - 7:52 PM

A school bus bringing high school students back from a Twin Cities field trip struck a car that ran a red light in Crow Wing County, leaving a girl in the car badly hurt, authorities said.

The crash occurred about 6 p.m. Monday at Hwy. 371 and County Rd. 48 in Baxter, Minn., the State Patrol said.

Three of the 11 students on the bus were slightly hurt, said Wallace Schoeb, superintendent of the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley School District. The driver and a teacher were unhurt, Schoeb said.

The bus on northbound Hwy. 371 hit the right rear of the car on eastbound County Rd. 48 after the car ran the light, sending the car into an SUV, the patrol said. The SUV driver was not hurt.

Car passenger Madeline A. Gibbons, 7, of Brainerd, Minn., was taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale in critical condition Monday night with a head injury, the patrol said. Her condition was upgraded Tuesday to fair. The car's driver suffered minor injuries.

The bus driver "tried to stop, but he couldn't get it stopped in time and broadsided the car," Schoeb said. "He did everything possible to avoid it."

PAUL WALSH

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