A De Soto Junior High School student suffered head injuries today (April 26) in a school bus accident west of De Soto, authorities report.
Victoria L. Lammert, 13, of De Soto not only sustained a head injury in the accident but also other injuries, said Cpl. Juston Wheetley with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The girl was airlifted to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital for treatment, De Soto Rural Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Tom Fitzgerald said.
In addition, the bus driver, Lisa M. Polley, 53, of De Soto, sustained minor injuries and was taken by Valle Ambulance to Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Crystal City, the patrol reported.
De Soto School District assistant superintendent Josh Isaacson said this morning that he didn’t know the extent of the student’s injuries.
“We’re not sure of her status at this time; we’re still following up,” he said. “We have an administrator from the building who is doing that, checking with them periodically to see how everything is going.”
Fitzgerald said authorities received a call just after 7 a.m. about the accident.
It occurred at 7:05 a.m. on Mammoth Road east of Turley Road near the Big River just east of the county’s border with Washington County, the patrol reported.
The bus was carrying a total of 12 high school and junior high students, authorities said.
“It’s a road with no shoulder,” Wheetley said. “The driver attempted to negotiate a curve and dropped the right front tire off the right side of the road and the vehicle struck a tree. A female junior high school student in a front seat had received a head injury and injuries from glass and debris that struck her.”
The bus, a 1998 Chevrolet Bluebird, was totaled, the patrol reported.
Isaacson said the other students on the bus were examined by emergency personnel and parents were informed of the incident.
“Our priority is the student’s safety, as well as the safety of the other students who were on the bus and the driver,” Isaacson said.
The bus driver was wearing a seat belt, but the students were exempt from wearing them, the report said.