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School bus driver cited in I-77 crash

02:16 PM EDT on Thursday, April 30, 2009

By NewsChannel 36 Staff
E-mail Us: NEWS@WCNC.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Cabarrus County Schools bus driver has been charged with careless and reckless driving after an activity bus overturned on Interstate 77 Wednesday.

Tonia Crowell has also been suspended with pay as the school district reviews the crash.

All but one of the 36 students injured in the crash have been released from local hospitals.

An 11-year-old boy remains in the intensive care unit at Presbyterian Hospital. He underwent emergency neurological surgery after the crash and is now listed in good condition.

The activity bus from Cox Mill Elementary School overturned at about 10 a.m. Wednesday on Interstate 77 South near the Brookshire Freeway exit.

The bus was carrying 58 passengers, including students and adult chaperones, to an overnight field trip at Camp Thunderbird on Lake Wylie.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol says Crowell was driving the appropriate speed limit at the time of the crash. Troopers say she distracted by a bee, oversteered and overcorrected, which caused the bus to overturn.

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