10-year-old son of football coach among dead in N.C. bus crash
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- In North Carolina, the start of the football season ended in tragedy for a junior college team headed to their first game.
Four people were killed, and more than 40 others injured when their bus crashed on Interstate-74 near Rockingham.
The charter bus was carrying members of a club football team when the front left tire blew out, sending the bus careening into a guardrail. Four passengers including the bus driver, were killed and 42 others were injured.
Quarterback Rayqwon Corbitt-Washington said he was sitting in the back of the bus listening to his iPad, when the tire blew.
“As soon as it stopped we just jumped outside the window...that’s when the paramedics came and all that and that’s when they were calling my friend Teto, I was calling his name and I was like what’s going on and I went to the other side and he was dead,” he said.
Among the deceased are players Teto Hamilton, 19, and Devonte Gibson, 21 -- both students of Clinton College in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Darice Hicks, the 10-year-old son of a coach, was also killed.
Investigators are looking into the bus company’s safety record, the driver’s history, as well as the speed.
“I’ve been doing this job for 23 years now. I’ve seen my share, and this is one of the worst, especially when you have a group of students, just starting their lives,” said Lieutenant Jeff Gordon is with the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
Injured players returned to the small private college on Sunday, devastated by the tragedy.
NTBS investigators are looking into the crash. Clinton College released a statement Sunday saying their top priority is to offer support to the traumatized student body, faculty and staff. All classes are cancelled tomorrow.