Story posted Thursday, September 24, 2009
Driver Ticketed In Bus Crash
By CRAIG ADAMS Journal & Topics Reporter
A school bus driver was ticketed and suspended from his job after a three-bus traffic crash in Buffalo Grove on Friday, Sept. 18.
Louis Damus, 41, of Round Lake Beach, was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash after a police investigation into the wreck.
"There was no alcohol or drugs involved in it," said Police Sgt. Scott Kristiansen. "He simply misjudged the speed he was going."
Damus was driving a First Student bus with students from Twin Groves Middle School at about 2:50 p.m. He was traveling south on Buffalo Grove Road near Deerfield Road, behind two other First Student buses, explained First Student spokesperson Maureen Richmond.
"They were coming up to a stop light. The first two stopped, the third one ended up hitting the back corner of the second bus," Richmond said. The impact pushed the second bus into the first one.
Of the 98 students on the three buses, 10 were taken to area hospitals as a precaution.
"The worst one was a bloody nose," Kristiansen said.
Richmond said Damus was suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
"He's a six and a half year veteran with us with no driving issues along the way," she said.
She was unsure how long the investigation would take to complete.
"We need to look at all the different elements," Richmond said.
Tom Many is superintendent of Kildeer Countryside Elementary School Dist. 96; Twin Groves is part of that district.
He said the district called all parents that had children on the buses and followed up with the ones taken to hospitals.
"Everybody's okay," he said on Tuesday, Sept. 22. "We're very thankful."
He confirmed First Student has provided the busing for the school for more than 10 years. "This is the first incident of this magnitude we've had," he said.
On Monday after the accident, school staff members met with the students that ride each of the three buses. "We made our staff available if anyone was anxious or needed to talk some more," he explained.
Several area fire departments assisted in processing the accident scene including Arlington Hts., Wheeling, Long Grove, Mundelein, Deerfield, and Wauconda. Palatine Rural Fire Protection Dist., Rolling Meadows, Lake Bluff, and Libertyville covered other areas of Buffalo Grove while local officials were on the scene.
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