Two Greenwich Country Day students taken to hospital

Bus was forced off road in N.J., officials say

GREENWICH — A small bus transporting students and staff from Greenwich Country Day School ran off the road on the Garden State Parkway in northern New Jersey Friday afternoon, sending two young people to an area hospital with what authorities described as non-life-threatening injuries.

The accident took place at 12:36 p.m. in the northbound lanes of the highway in Paramus, police said, as a result of another vehicle making an unsafe lane change.

According to a statement from State Trooper Charles Marchan, “Based on a preliminary investigation, a silver Lexus traveling northbound changed lanes, which caused the school bus to lose directional control, causing it to run off the roadway and cross the southbound lanes before coming to final rest in a ditch.”

According to Kim Eves, a Greenwich Country Day School spokesperson, two teachers — one of whom was driving — and 11 high school-age students were returning from an Upper School Intersession community service trip in New Jersey.

“Thanks to the heroic efforts of our driver/teacher in responding to the hit, which resulted in a flat tire, no one was seriously injured,” Eves said.

“Fortunately, an ambulance was traveling behind the bus and was able to attend to the scene immediately. Two students were transported to the hospital to be checked and have since been released,” Eves said Friday evening. “The students' families were notified and another GCDS bus was dispatched to pick up the passengers.”

All GCDS bus drivers are licensed and trained, and driving records are reviewed annually, the school administration noted.

GCDS Head of School Adam Rohdie said, “I have never been more grateful for the hugs I got today from the students and teachers returning safely from their ordeal in New Jersey. I am also grateful to the faculty on board our bus for their calm and adept handling of the situation, and to the emergency personnel involved in addressing the accident.”

Photos from the scene, captured by a freelance photographer, show clumps of mud and vegetation on the front of the minibus, picked up by the vehicle as it drove off the roadway.

According to the state trooper, “The crash remains under investigation and there is no additional information available at the moment.”