Woman, 56, dead after crash involving school bus

No children were on the bus at the time, police say

Police say a women was killed in a head on collision with a school bus Thursday morning in La Plata.

The bus driver, the sole occupant at the time, was unharmed in the crash but taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Cheryl Ophelia Mitchell, 56, of Clinton, the driver of the Mazda passenger car, was critically injured, and despite the efforts of a nearby police officer and fire official, she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital, police said.

Two passengers in the Mazda, a 25-year-old female and 56-year-old male, were also taken to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries, according to authorities.

Around 9:04 a.m. on Thursday, first responders were called to the crash site at Radio Station Road and Audie Lane, a Charles County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said.

A sheriff’s office deputy, Pfc. S. Miller, and a Prince George’s County fire investigator, Aaron Tyler, were nearby when the collision occurred and quickly removed the woman, who was unconsciousness and not breathing, from the wreckage. Miller and Tyler began CPR and continued until EMS personnel arrived and took over.

After conducting a preliminary investigation, police believe the Mazda may have crossed over the center line of the road and struck the bus head on, the spokesperson said.

The sheriff’s office traffic operations unit is continuing the investigation.