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1 killed, 66 hurt in bus crash

The driver fell asleep as he was driving an Alabama family home from a reunion, police say.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 26, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - A tour bus carrying members of an extended Alabama family home from a reunion veered off a southern Kentucky highway early Monday and slammed into an overpass, killing one person and injuring 66 others.

State police said the driver apparently dozed off shortly before 3 a.m., while most of the passengers were asleep. The bus veered off Interstate 65, struck an earthen embankment and rammed a concrete bridge pillar about 75 miles north of Nashville.

At least two of the injured were reported in critical condition, including an 8-year-old boy and the driver, Abraham Parker, 63, of Birmingham, police said.

Trooper Steve Pavey said that no charges were pending against the driver and that the woman who died was ejected from the bus.

She was identified as Carrie Walton, 71, of Greene County, Ala.

The bus had been rented by a family returning to Alabama from a reunion in Niagara Falls in upstate New York.

Jaida Goree, 27, said she woke up just before the crash and heard a "popping" noise and something like a wheel grinding just before the impact. The force of the crash threw her forward several rows. She called for her two children in the chaos that followed. Neither was seriously hurt.

State police said there were 42 adult passengers, 23 children and two drivers on the bus. Fifteen people remained hospitalized Monday night.

James Jackson, a passenger on the bus, said some of the children were fine, while others "are not doing so good."

Mary Hill, who said most of those on the bus were her cousins, drove five hours from Alabama after learning that her brother was among the injured.

"He said everyone was so hysterical, " she said. "Everyone was trying to find the kids."

The passengers included about 40 members of the Jackson family from Forkland, Ala., and several town officials, said Cynthia K. Stone, city clerk in the west Alabama community of 630.

Clarence Williams, president of C & R Tours, confirmed the company had rented the bus for the family trip to New York state.

The company had a satisfactory safety rating when it was last reviewed in March, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. It had not reported any accidents or injuries in the last two years.

[Last modified June 26, 2007, 00:37:32]