Male driver dies following crash involving school bus: UPDATE, bus driver taken off duty as standard procedure

[File photo by Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]

UPDATED 1:32PM: The driver of a Marion County Public Schools bus involved in a fatal traffic crash on May 6 has been taken off driving duty as per standard procedure, according to a MCPS spokesperson.

“The bus driver, an 11-year veteran driver for our district, is no longer behind the wheel, a normal step in situations like this. We will await FHP’s final crash report to determine any disciplinary considerations,” Kevin Christian, MCPS Director of Public Relations, wrote in an email on May 7.

“The bus involved in Wednesday’s fatal traffic accident services Maplewood Elementary School. The four students, driver, and bus aide on board were not injured,” he stated. 

“School counselors are available to any students or employees who need help dealing with this accident,” Christian wrote.

“The thoughts and prayers of our entire district are with the victim’s family. The lives of everyone involved are forever changed,” Christian wrote in his email.   

ORIGINAL POST: A 76-year- old man driving a pickup truck died as the result of a crash involving a Marion County Public Schools bus the afternoon of May 6 in Silver Springs, the Florida Highway Patrol reports.

A MCPS spokesperson confirmed four student passengers on the bus were from Maplewood Elementary School and no occupants of the bus were reported injured. 

According to an FHP press release, the school bus was traveling east on State Road 40 and paused before proceeding to make a left into Southeast 177th but “failed to yield the right of way to an oncoming…GMC pickup truck towing a trailer. This resulted in an offset head-on collision between the two vehicles.”

The crash occurred around 2:50 pm. The victim was transported on trauma alert to HCA Florida Ocala Hospital and later died from his injuries, according to a later FHP release. 

It was unknown if the victim wore a seat belt.

The occupants of the school bus included the 55-year-old male driver, a 58- year-old female bus aide and four students ages 5, 6, 7 and 10, according to the press release.