Michael Green didn’t register that the bus he was riding in was tipping. All he knew was he had to react quickly if he wanted to avoid getting hurt.
“I felt the bus bounce and I hooked the seat in front of me with my arm as it tipped,” the 29-year-old former Marine said Sunday afternoon. “It’s a good thing, too. After it tipped, I looked down to where I would have fallen and there was a baby lying right there.”
The commercial bus Green was aboard had overturned on the South High Street bridge, between Selle Street and Rosa Parks Drive. Police on the scene said the crash happened at about 12:30 p.m., when the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle as it made a left turn onto High from Selle.
Eight people were injured in the incident. None of the injuries are life-threatening.
Police said they’re investigation how the crash occurred and opted not to speculate on the cause. Witnesses inside the bus, though, said they suspected a mechanical malfunction is to blame.
“Another passenger said she saw the driver turning the wheel, but it wasn’t doing nothing,” said Green, of Newcomerstown. “It was not the driver’s fault. That much I know.”
The bus, which is operated by Barons Bus Lines, was headed to Athens. Police and witnesses said many Ohio University students were aboard, heading back to school after spring break.
The uninjured passengers had to wait several hours for a replacement bus to arrive.
Meanwhile, the overturned bus stopped traffic across the bridge, which extends south to Bartges Street, for more than three hours while rescue and tow workers attempted to move the vehicle out of the roadway.
Two attempts to lift the bus onto its tires failed. The third time, at about 3:30 p.m., was a success.
The road opened shortly afterward.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ.
