Your donation will support the student journalists of Clayton High School. Our goal is to ensure every student and faculty member receives a print copy, and that we can continue to explore interactive storytelling mediums on this platform. Your donation also helps provide us with necessary equipment.
A Trip Took a Wrong Turn
On the bus to their daily practice, the girls' golf team got into a highway collision.
October 10, 2018
Ella Cuneo was exhausted after school, as were the surrounding golf team members. She rested her head on her backpack, ravishing in the few minutes of peace until the team got to Normandy Golf Course for their daily practice after school. The bus rolled down I-170 while the girls mingled and a car that seemed to be driving out of control swerved into the bus.
The driver, Mitch, then looked in the mirror and started to speed up and was swerving to avoid the car that was tailgating the bus. However, the car behind them hit the bus. “We kinda, like, jolted for a second,” says Natalie Noonan, a team member who was on the bus.
Cuneo was sitting further back in the bus, contrary to Noonan, and she states, “We heard a loud noise and then pulled over.” After the car drove for the side of the highway, the girls and Mitch then went to inspect the damage and found that the driver had hit the corner of the bus. Fortunately there was only minor damage to the vehicle.
The team, unharmed, walked up the side of the highway and firemen, policemen, and EMT’s, were called and investigated the scene. Although there were no injuries, everyone on the bus was examined for head trauma. Unfortunately, the driver of the other car was rushed to the hospital and the car that hit the bus was totaled. “A car hit the red [totaled] car, and then the red car, because it was hit by that other car, ran into us,” Noonan said. “When we kept on going after we were hit is we were going to pull over, they continued going because they were out of control at that point, and then they ran into one of those side rails.”
After everyone was monitored, and legal actions were taken care of, the girls waited 45 minutes until another bus came to take them to their next practice. “Ultimately, everything from the accident was fine,” Cuneo said. It was almost humorous because we had such bad luck with getting to practice and rain beforehand. I’m so glad nothing serious happened to the team.”