Florida school bus driver arrested after train crash with 29 students onboard

SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. - A former bus driver with the Sumter County School District has been arrested and charged with reckless driving and nearly 30 counts of child neglect after allegedly ignoring a train warning signal and driving across the tracks as a train was coming, officials said.

The train sounded its alarm and clipped the rear of the bus, officials said. Thankfully, no one on the bus was hurt, though the students told FOX 35 that they were terrified.

"The trust that our families place in us to transport their children safely is something we take extremely seriously," Sumter County Superintendent Logan Brown said in a prepared video statement.

"Anyone who jeopardizes that trust will not work in the Sumter County School District."

What we know:

The Sumter County Sheriff's Office arrest report identified the bus driver as 67-year-old Yvonne Hampton.

Hampton was booked into jail under charges of reckless driving, culpable negligence, and 29 counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.

Sumter County Superintendent Brown said Hampton had been with the district for more than a decade. She was hired in 2015. She resigned from her position in lieu of termination, the district said.

Affidavit: Bus driver ignored railroad warning signs; 'Not gonna stop for no train’

According to the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, the incident happened on Thursday, April 2, at the train tracks near East Central Avenue and North Market Street in Bushnell.

An oncoming train clipped the rear of school bus 2517. 

As the bus approached the train tracks, another vehicle approached the tracks from the opposite side and attempted to make a left turn. That vehicle started to go, then stopped, which created "uncertainty" on the tracks.

The bus driver drove across the tracks as the train was approaching, Brown described. The front left corner of the train hit the back left corner of the bus, he said.

According to the arrest report, surveillance video inside the bus showed that the train's warning sirens and arms were activated at 4:07 p.m. That's the time the bus appeared to drive over the tracks.

Six seconds later, a woman's voice, believed to be Hampton's, reportedly said, "Not gonna stop for no train."

The report said Hampton's decided to cross the tracks, ignoring the warning lights.

The other side:

Hampton claimed she was moving over the tracks when the railroad crossing warning system activated, the arrest report said. She claimed she moved up as far as she could, deputies said.

According to the video, students on the bus began to panic.

A student yelled, "There is a train coming!" Hampton uttered, "Get in your seats." 

The train hit the bus seconds later, officials said.

"I want to reiterate just how fortunate we are," Brown said. "When you look at the totality of this situation, we truly averted what could have been a catastrophic event." 

It was a matter of six inches, Brown said. 

"It could have been an extremely catastrophic situation," he said. 

"I also hurt for the kids because this is something they’ll remember forever," Brown told FOX 35. "It’s unfortunate that it happened but we’ve taken very calculated measures to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again."

Brown said he spoke with the train conductor, who reported seeing the bus on the tracks and sounded his horn continuously as he approached the crossing and attempted to brake. 

"Based on everything we know, he (the train conductor) did everything he was supposed to do, and in my view, he's a hero in this situation," Brown said. 

Students in the crash told FOX 35's Manny Martinez that they're thankful the crash didn't turn out worse than it was. 

"I closed my eyes as hard as I could before that, and I’m thankful that nothing really bad happened, but it could’ve been way worse," Isabelle Sinibaldi told Martinez. "…I was crying because I was scared. I was glad that I wasn’t dead. But I was also crying because I couldn’t move."

Another student, Catherine Pharis, said, "I was in shock. I was scared because all I could feel was the bus move to the side." 

For Catherine's mom, Ashley, she described the news as the worst thing you can imagine as a parent. 

"Getting a phone call that your child is in a dangerous situation and there’s nothing you can do to erase it," Ashley Pharis said. 

District: This railroad crossing has no red lights, and is not a safe bus route for students

What's next:

Of the five railroad crossings in Bushnell, this crossing at East Central Avenue does not have red lights, the superintendent said. The crossing provides limited space for a bus once the crossing has occurred, Brown said. 

Following the crash, the district determined the crossing is no longer safe for student transportation, and has eliminated that intersection for bus routes.

"We have also learned valuable lessons from this incident and are actively reviewing additional safety measures to ensure that something like this does not happen again," Brown said.