7 Children Hurt When Crash Flips School Bus

A small school bus carrying special education students in Palmdale flipped over Friday in a collision with a car, injuring seven children, one of them critically, authorities said.

The bus was carrying eight students and two adults to the Palmdale Learning Plaza when it was hit by the car shortly before 9 a.m. at the intersection of 10th Street East and East Avenue R, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Germain Aguilera.

The car failed to stop at a red light, said Officer Henry Ross, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

The driver, Dorothy Meyer, 90, of Palmdale, was taken to a Lancaster hospital with minor injuries, Ross said.

The critically injured student was airlifted to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said Palmdale School District Supt. Roger D. Gallizzi.

The 13-year-old boy had been pinned under the bus, Ross said, before being rescued with the help of a passerby.

The other six injured students -- the youngest was 5 -- were taken to hospitals in the Antelope Valley. Their injuries ranged from minor to serious.

One adult aide on the bus also was injured.

The bus was less than two miles from the Palmdale Learning Plaza when it was involved in the accident, said Gallizzi, who heads the 24,000-student elementary school district.

Counseling services were being provided to students who saw the accident while riding in two other school buses, Gallizzi said.

The investigation was continuing, and a citation was pending against Meyer, Ross said.

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