Four kids sufferminor injuries in bus crash

SAN JOSE » Four children suffered minor injuries after a hit- and-run driver struck their school bus on Highway 101 on Thursday morning, authorities said.

The collision involved a bus carrying 21 students along with school staff and chaperones from the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District for a field trip in Berkeley, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Around 9:50 a. m. the 2009 Blue Bird-manufactured school bus was traveling in the northbound lanes approaching Oakland Road when it slowed for traffic, the CHP said. Before the driver could fully stop, he reportedly felt an impact from behind and pulled the bus over to the freeway shoulder.

A 2004 tan Ford Taurus believed to have rear-ended the bus also pulled over, but soon after drove off, the CHP said. But not before a student on the bus used a smartphone to take a picture of the Ford, including a clear image of the license plate and a partial photo of the driver.

Two students on the bus, described as being in their early teens, were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, San Jose Fire Capt. MitchMatlowsaid. Lee said four children altogether reported some kind of injury, and all were deemedminor.

The rest of the students were released to school staff or chaperones.

In a news release, the CHP described the suspect driver as an elderly white woman, and that the Ford had a license plate number reading 8BEJ916 and was registered to a Santa Clara address.

The CHP has dual jurisdictions in the case because it happened on the freeway, and because the agency is responsible for investigating all school bus crashes in the state regardless of where they occur.