Suit seeks damages for bus crash
A mother who filed suit against the school system for a bus crash which injured her two children just over a month ago says the system should pay for their injuries since they were in the care of the school when the bus in which they were riding overturned.
“My daughter has had a hard time,” said Jenna Roller, mother of ninth grader Molly Lawrence who was injured in the April 27 crash. “She has had to go through a lot of surgery on her nose and she hasn’t been back to school since the accident. She’s been on homebound.”
Roller filed suit last week on behalf of her daughter and son, second grader George Roller, seeking compensation for their medical treatment and her lost work time. Her suit is the first and only thus far stemming from the accident which sent 12 of the bus’s 24 passengers to the hospital. The accident happened on Williams Road at the DeKalb County line when the bus ran off the road, went over an embankment and overturned. Bus driver Amy LeBeau said she looked away for a moment to have a student pick up an overturned cooler and that the front wheels of the bus slid off the road during that instant.
While none of the students suffered life-threatening injuries, Roller said her daughter feared for her life when the bus rolled.
“After it happened she said she saw blood everywhere,” Roller said of her daughter’s injured nose and head laceration. “She hasn’t been back to school since and my son is terrified to ride the bus now.”
Roller said she had some problems having her insurance cover her daughter’s nose surgery, noting she feels it should be the school system’s responsibility to pay the medical bills.
When they got onto the bus just minutes before, they were in the school’s hands,” Roller said. “They were responsible.”
Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale declined comment on the case, saying the matter has been handed over to the school’s legal team.